Director, Barrie Kosky; Set Designer, Rufus Didwiszus; Costume Designer. Victoria Behr;
Lighting Designer. Alessandro Carletti. Wotan, Christopher Maltman; Alberich, Christopher Purves; Loge, Sean Panikkar; Fricka, Marina Prudenskaya; Freia, Kiandra Howarth; Donner, Kostas Smoriginas; Froh, Rodrick Dixon; Mime, Brenton Ryan; Fasolt, Insung Sim; Fafner, Soloman Howard; Woglinde, Katharina Konradi; Wellgunde, Niamh O’Sullivan; Flosshilde. Marvic Monreal; Erda, Rose Knox-Peebles. Conductor, Antonio Pappano
We in the UK are extraordinarily lucky not only to have two Ring cycles planned currently in London, even though one may not proceed after Die Walkure, but to have had two such engrossing and excellent productions of Rheingold/Rhinegold to see, in the space of 7-8 months.
I have not seen that many complete Rings live – obviously the 1970’s ENO one, Wolfgang Wagner ‘s Ring in the early 70’s, Gotz Friedrich’s Ring at ROHCG in the 1970’s, Keith Warner’s at ROHCG in 2012, the Opera North Ring in 2016 and the Bayreuth Schwarz production in 2022. In addition I saw another (second) Friedrich Siegfried production in 1990 and the Birmingham Opera Rhine Gold in 2021, plus a concert cycle by Mark Elder and the Halle in the early 2000’s, and two Ring music dramas in concert recently conducted by Jurowski with the LPO. For me, both Richard Jones’ Rhinegold at ENO and Barry Kosky’s at ROHCG are of the highest quality, worthy to stand beside any of their predecessors, and it is very difficult, and probably inappropriate, to evaluate one against the other. Musically the new ROHCG production might be stronger, the design aspect is maybe stronger in the ENO production. Where Jones focuses more on the portrayal of the characters on stage in strong and interesting narrative detail, the Kosky production is stronger on the overarching ‘concept’.
The ’big idea’ in Kosky’s production, though of course we have no real understanding yet how this will play out in the other three works, may be that the entire Ring cycle will be viewed from the perspective of Erda. Certainly that is how it was in this Rheingold, where a very old Erda is on stage throughout, watching the action unfold, perhaps as a memory or dream. Occasionally she is in costume – a waitress in Scene 2 – but mostly she is naked, treading slowly round the scenery with infinite weariness. This obviously seems to set the course for a Ring that will focus on biodiversity loss, climate change and the polluting of the planet, though of course we can’t be clear at this stage. But it certainly fits with that concept that the basic set for all 4 scenes is a charred and broken, dead, World Ash Tree, which is cleverly used for the Rhinemaidens to pop in and out of in Scene 1, as the backdrop to the gods’ picnic in Scene 2, with a colourful picnic rug thrown over most of it and as the basis for Alberich’s gold smelting operation in Scene 3 (as well as enabling his toad and dragon transformations). Interestingly the gold is seen as a liquid – maybe the sap of the World Ash Tree (though it seems to be ‘milked’ from Erda’s breasts in Scene 3; this emphasises the original innocence of the gold, its centrality to life and nature, and its connection to the Rhinemaidens and Erda, its being both a representation of nature itself, and then an example of its subsequent tragic misuse. The gold is poured over Freia in buckets in scene 4 to measure how much needs to be handed over to the giants, rather than the usual gold blocks built up over her, and this was particularly effective in showing how the corrupted gold was literally smothering the goddess of love and beauty. There were some very dramatic ‘freeze’ moments, where lights cut and there was a single intense spotlight on Wotan – most movingly when Wotan and Erda circled slowly round each other slowly and embraced during her warning in Scene 4 (sung off stage). The costumes were contemporary, though with no placing as far as Loge, the giants, Alberich, Mime and the Rhinemaidens were concerned. The gods – at least Wotan and Fricka – were wearing jodhpurs and riding boots, and there were polo mallets around, clearly indicative of privilege (Wotan looked amazingly like Ian Duncan-Smith….).
Like the Jones’ ENO Rhinegold, the ROHCG production clearly intended to keep to the story – there was a spear, something representing a toad, and so forth. To be honest I had a few quibbles – how is Erda supposed to be the mother of Brunnhilde and the Valkyries if she is quite so old? And what was the point exactly of the Brechtian alienation sequence before ‘curtain up’, with the World Ash Tree covered in a cloth, the whole of the backstage exposed with its machinery, and various stagehands walking across at intervals (plus the cloth covering the tree being hoisted up during the prelude. One of its ends got a bit snagged up in the World Ash Tree and needed an extra yank). Also I didn’t quite see the point of the over-large caricature elf head masks the Nibelungs wore, and Alberich’s prosthetic penis was probably a mistake……! But these are minor issues. It did seem as though Kosky might have used some of Jones’ ideas – a silent sequence before the opening E flat major chord, the glitter at the end, the surrounding darkness – but I don’t see any problem in this. As I said, I think in time I will find the Jones’ imagery for this work more memorable, and nothing in the Kosky production quite matched the ENO coup de theatre of Valhalla’s prison walls enclosing the gods and keeping the Rhinemaidens out at the end of the work.
The cast was pretty uniformly good. Their diction was extraordinarily clear and they worked hard to ensure that the words really meant something and were accompanied by appropriate actions. Christopher Maltman as Wotan was truly excellent, with a bigger darker voice than I was expecting, and a nasty brutish presence (his wielding a knife to cut the ring off Alberich’s finger, and subsequently wiping the blood off was very unpleasant). I was very moved by his final peroration, and this suggested perhaps that Maltman would be equally good in portraying the introspective Walkure Wotan as he was performing the thuggish Rhinegold one. Fricka had a warm caressing tone and was an effective actor. In some productions Loge steals the show, and it is a tribute to the other performers that he didn’t in this production, while at the same time being as good as any other Loge I’ve seen – very hyperactive, a slightly mad cackle, and a strongly projected voice. The two giants were strikingly characterised as abrasively rude builders (with Fasolt’s gentle side coming out well in his infatuation with Freia). Fafner performed one of the nastier killings of Fasolt I’ve seen – death by polo mallet….. Christopher Purves was, I thought, outstanding as Alberich – again, every word clear and pointed, and his anguish at rejection by the Rhinemaidens and the loss of the ring was utterly convincing. The ENO/Jones singers, I’d stress, were in my view of a similar standard (particularly John Relyea and Derek Welton), although I felt in this ROHCG production that the Froh was a bit underpowered, and Mime not as well characterised as by his ENO equivalent.
Where the ROHCG production really scored by comparison with ENO’s, I thought, was in the quality of conducting. I don’t recall being particularly struck by Pappano’s conducting in 2012, but here there was a real fire to hid conducting and the way the orchestra played. The reading was relatively swift (maybe 2hours and 25 mins) but nothing seemed rushed – the big orchestral moments, like the ending, the descent to Nibelheim, and Alberich’s calling up of the dwarves, were very powerful and well judged. It was in summary just very excitingly but sensitively paced and utterly gripping. Covent Garden is never going to provide the best acoustics for Wagner or R.Strauss but the orchestra sounded as fine as it ever can in this house.
What will Walkure look and feel like? I can’t wait to find out next year….and I’d love to still be on the planet to see the full cycle in ?2027/2028 (if the funds are still there to mount it)
John's musical journey 