Die Walkure HD Broadcast May 14

[leigh.bess.toad]

I was just wondering who else will be enjoying (or subjecting themselves to, depending on your point of view) the Met's Walkure broadcast in a few weeks. I can hardly wait. It'll be my first chance to see/hear Jonas Kaufmann. Of course, I may just stare and drool and not even hear what he's singing too. Definitely prime Hunkentenor.

 

I'd appreciate opinions from anyone who might get to see it in the house before the May 14 telecast.

 

Leb Wohl!

[whipped guy]

It'll be my first chance to see/hear Jonas Kaufmann... Definitely prime Hunkentenor... I'd appreciate opinions from anyone who might get to see it in the house before the May 14 telecast...

I could not resist chiming in on this one... Since I have suffered through this twice before via the MET's two previous productions (My God, that middle act is just about an hour too long! The snoring was louder than the singing!) my plan was simply to see the third act as the local university offers the HD broadcasts for free to the university community. (I am not a student, faculty member, or staff member, but I do have connections...) However, Herr Kaufmann is long dispatched by the third act so a dilemma of sorts... perhaps if he is shirtless I might consider going earlier... plus I always like to see how the final moments of the first act are staged... Though I would assume the "Ride" and the "Magic Fire" would be the most spectacular moments in the staging! So yes! If anyone has seen this in the house any input would be appreciated...

[doitb4ugo]

I am very much looking forward to my first experience with this opera....I will be watching at my local theatre (it spelled theater, if it is not high brow)...My exposure early this season to Wagner has left me wanting to experience more. My primary focus on these operas has been staging and presentation,,,,having had an interest in drama in grad school...The music and singing is something I have little experience with so I just sit back and enjoy.....I never thought I would like opera but this season has had for me some remarkable performances....

 

Not long ago, I was posting in the fetish forum as a newbie....now in the opera section as a virgin...A big thanks to Whipped Guy for his encouragement...To Leigh as well for his enthusiasm for Wagner.

[whipped guy]

I am not a Wagnerian...

 

Not by any stretch of the imagination... However, in spite of the gargantuan length of his operas, Wagner did write some of the most sublime music ever... In Die Walkure form the moment Wotan utters the following phrase...

 

Denn einer nur freie die Braut,

der freier als ich, der Gott!

 

... until the conclusion of the piece we are most definitely in one of the most inspiring and trancendent places imaginable. I get shivers just thinking about this music!

 

A quote attributed to Rossini sums things up best:

 

Wagner has beautiful moments but awful quarters of an hour.

[Kevin Slater]

In the spirit of Easter, Kill da wabbit.

 

Kevin Slater

[whipped guy]

In the spirit of Easter, Kill da wabbit.

I guess you are even less of a Wagnerian than am I!!!???

[Kevin Slater]

I guess you are even less of a Wagnerian than am I!!!???

 

Glad to have sat though it once, no desire to do so again.

 

Kevin Slater

[+ sf westcoaster]

tThe San Francisco OPera is presenting the entire Ring this summer- I am far from being a Wagner fan, but may just drag myself to one of the performaces - more to view staging and the overall production than anything else. Wagner fans are truly "groopies" everytime the Opera Company does the full cycle, the city is overrun with German speaking tourists.

[hornytwells]

Glad to have sat though it once, no desire to do so again.

 

Kevin Slater

 

That was Rossini's response (almost ) to being asked what he thought of Wagner's Lohengrin: "I couldn't possibly tell you after only one hearing, and I certainly never intend listening to it again!"

[whipped guy]

Another Rossini quote...

 

“Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind.”

 

That's why Rossini is a special favorite of mine.

 

Incidentally Rossini never experienced Wagner's Ring... I can only imagine what he would have thought! Still, he did meet Wagner and the two composers did have a great respect for each other. In fact in his later years Rossini often inquired about the success of Wagner's operas and Wagner even admitted that there were indeed moments in Rossini's work that prefigured his own ideas. Still. I can't think of two composers who are more diametrically opposed!

[+ honcho]

I remember vividly some parts of a performance the San Francisco opera did of Walkuere mid 80's that Karl Boehm

conducted. He demanded (and got) 10 rehearsals rather than the usual 5. Particularly spectactular was the Ride,

which he took at a rather more stately mm = 68 ... I remember the initial flourishes in the winds being more like

sfzppp like little puffs of flame that burts out brilliant and quickly subsided. It raised the hairs on the nape of my neck

in a good way.

[leigh.bess.toad]

So today is the day. I look forward to hearing other attendee's comments. But I saw the trailer on the Met's website from the April 19 performance. And Debbie Voigt, who I love and admire, just didn't seem to have it to me. So I enter a bit apprehensively.

[whipped guy]

So today is the day.

Also known as "Foley Catheter Insertion Day" for all of those with weak bladders... something that the true Wagnerian excels at. For the record I understand that Lee uses the Fasolt model, size XXXL...

[leigh.bess.toad]

Also known as "Foley Catheter Insertion Day" for all of those with weak bladders... something that the true Wagnerian excels at. For the record I understand that Lee uses the Fasolt model, size XXXL...

 

I'm not sure if I'll use the Foley today. It all Depends.

 

Hey, compared to Rheingold this is a breeze. At least we get intermissions this time. And I'm trying a new theater today that is just starting broadcasting (http://www.cobbcinebistro.com/about-home.asp). A lot smaller theater (81 seats) with reserved seats, leather recliners, waiters to bring you food and drink to your seat. Maybe a nice pinot grigio. Should I get extra butter on the popcorn if I'm having a pinot? I'm in the front row so I even get an ottoman to prop my feet up and relax.

[+ Charlie]

I love Wagner, but Die Walkure is not one of my favorites. However, I was in Munich on Birgit Nilsson's 60th birthday, and she was singing Brunnhilde, so I went to see it. Predictably, the "Ho jo to ho" started pretty wobbly, and I began to regret the exorbitant price I had paid for the ticket (still the most expensive ticket I have ever bought for any opera). Then she settled in, and by the end she had me convinced that she was the young girl beloved by her father. I have seen others who could sing the role more beautifully (Rita Hunter, for instance), but no one who could inhabit it more thoroughly.

[whipped guy]

However, in spite of the gargantuan length of his operas, Wagner did write some of the most sublime music ever..

 

A quote attributed to Rossini sums things up best:

 

Wagner has beautiful moments but awful quarters of an hour.

 

I just returned from the HD theater-cast... Well, taking Rossini's advice I just saw Act III... and I thought that the production worked wonderfully. Having seen the last two MET productions in the theater, I thought that this was actually the most effective at least as far as the final act was concerned. Alas, I did not get to see Jonas Kaufmann, though I did catch his curtain call and would that he had a bit more meat on his bones. Unfortunately I did not get to hear even the audio of his performance. By the time I was able to listen on the radio his character of Siegmund had already bit the dust. However, what I did hear sounded quite good to me. Perhaps a bit more bloom on Voight's voice would have been desirable, but heck even Nilsson had a steely quality that was powerful and not conventionally beautiful. Levine certainly knows how to milk this music for all he can get... and it works even though there was a loss of momentum at a few key places... but that has been his Wager style and I certainly can live with it. Unfortunately he looked a bit sickly compared to the last time I had seen him.

 

In short, just the perfect dose of Wagner for a late Saturday afternoon.

 

PS: Before it is brought to my attention I know that Rossini never lived long enough to experience the Ring... but his advice regarding Wagner in general still holds true... at least for me that is.

[doitb4ugo]

I don't know enough yet to either like of dislike Wagner. He seems a bit above my level to care about my uninformed opinion (were he alive). I watched Die Walkure today at the theatre. Even at the extensive length of it, I was blown away ( a high-brow critical term) by the music, staging, singing and the tremendous emotion generated all of the above.Being my second Wagner this year, I vote the "machine" the most exciting stage device I have ever experienced....It made a good deal of the opera very cinematic in its presentation....Still excited by the staging of the opera....and have 2 more uses of the machine to look forward to.

 

I was not familiar with the plot or music and tried to not learn anything before seeing it. If it can't survive an ignorant and open mind it is probably not very good theatre.

 

I, of course, loved the overall depressed world-view and the peering into the abyss by the various characters for very different reasons....I also have to admit that I onlt laughed inappropriate a few time but cried about 20 time due the emotion and music on a number of occasions....

 

I will remember the opening scene for some time to come...Sometimes not knowing to much make enjpyment so much easier.

[+ Charlie]

I didn't see it, but I listened to the radio broadcast, and thought it was excellent. My only previous experience with Jonas Kaufman was seeing him in Traviata, in which I thought he was delicious, a few years ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that he also has the makings of a Heldentenor.

[whipped guy]

but cried about 20 time due the emotion and music on a number of occasions....

Well Rich, since you admitted it first I must say that I cried as well... and always do during that final act... the "Siegfried" leitmotif, along with the "sleep" leitmotif and how they are intertwined always gets to me... and of course my favorite of all the "redemption through love" theme as Sieglinde realizes the importance of her mission in life.. That leitmotif is the last theme that is heard at the very end of the Ring and I always marvel at how Wagner indeed had a plan... and believe you me when I hear that theme in the context of that final scene the water works that flow are not only those of the River Rhine!

[leigh.bess.toad]

I must say, I was impressed yesterday. A solid performance by all, and even an amazing one with Kauffman. Charlie's right -- we may have the makings of a Hendentenor. His Siegmund was vocally dead on. And yes, he's obviously put on a bit of padding around the middle (damn) but still a good looking man. But it was a great performance by him. Debbie Voigt seemed to start a bit weak but I thought she did quite well in Act 3. But she hasn't figured out how to act facially for the camera -- I could never tell if she was sad or laughing or what. Terfel did well. Not a huge fan but it was a good performance. I've certainly heard much better Leb Wohl's before. Which those final minutes for the Leb Wohl makes the entire 5+ hour ordeal worth it. Stephanie Blythe was also a standout as Fricka. Although I thought it was funny that for Joyce DiDonato's interview with Stephianie, Joyce she slipped and said Flicka -- a true mezzo slip (considering what I've heard Joyce say about Flicka -- they were together for Flicka's last performance at Houston) But even in the interview, I still just love Joyce DiDonato. And she ain't too bad of a singer.

 

But WG is right -- the Ride of the Valkyrie was amazing. LePage's set, which we first saw in Rheingold and will no doubt see the same superstructure throughout looked lilke it was almost built just for that scene and then he worked it into everything else. The Valkyries riding was simply amazing. And the Valkyries themselves did a great job. I'm sure that first time sliding down the set must have been a bit nervewracking.

 

It's great to see that Gary Lehman gets both Siegfried and Gotterdamerung next year. It's almost like a reward he deserves for rescuing their butts with the T&I of a few years ago. To me, listening to the T&I's (and I think I heard almost everyone), he was the best Tristan they had for that run. Even though Robert Dean Smith did a fine job for the broadcast, I wish they would have let Gary have the T&I broadcast as well. So I look forward to seeing him next year. Even though I'm not overly looking forward to Siegfried -- to me the weakest of the four operas.

 

So in spite of starting 40 minutes late (what was up with that by the way), it was, I thought, a great performance. Solid if not great singing by absolutely everyone -- no weak links.

 

Two down, two to go.