Siegfried is my personal favourite of the Ring Cycle for some of the most beautiful music Wagner ever wrote(Forest Murmur for example) and the last half-hour is utterly magnificent with a sense of eroticism. Having seen and being very impressed if not completely blown away by the 1990 Met production, the 1980 production from I think Bayreuth and the recent Met production with Jay Hunter Morris, I loved this production and consider my personal favourite of the four productions seen thus far.
It may not be a beautiful-looking production, in fact the Met productions I found far more visually appealing and ambitious generally, but in a way like in Act 2 the sparsity of the setting works well with the drama and Act 3 had some very interesting and suitably emotionally dizzying stage effects. The video directing and picture and sound quality are more than acceptable. Musically, I can't fault it. The orchestra are lush in parts, and foreboding and powerful in others especially with Fafner. Daniel Barenboim's conducting shows a sheer mastery of the score, with Act 3 thanks to him you can't wait to see what happens.
Although some may not find this Siegfried the most ideal if they're looking for great sets, but there are at least two assets that improve on the other productions. Especially with the design of Fafner, I found him cheap in look especially in the Morris Siegfried(oddly enough Fafner's slaying in that production was the single worst scene of any of the 2010-2012 Met Ring performances), but here he is terrifying. I also found Acts 2 and 3 riveting, not that the other productions weren't either, but here Act 2 emphasises Mime's buffoonery and Siegfried's oafishness the best I feel, and I found myself transfixed in the big final scene between Jerusalem and Anne Evans, I really believed in their chemistry and love here.
Siegfried Jerusalem is outstanding in the title role. The voice is musical and strong with no obvious signs of strain, and overall it is a very committed and dimensional portrayal, heroic yet tender. Anne Evans doesn't appear until just before the end as Brunnhilde, watching and hearing her it is well worth the wait. The singing is big and thrilling with no screeching or hollowness and she is gripping and very human dramatically. Her uttering of Sei Mein is genuinely passionate.
The rest of the cast are just as good, with Graham Clark a more sympathetic than usual yet still wily Mime. His singing is good, but the acting is what makes Clark's performance so great in this performance. John Tomlinson is an enormously resonant and truly remarkable Wanderer, with the scene between him and Brigitt Svensen's Erda indeed touching. Phillip Kang is a menacing Fafner and Gunter Von Kannen is skin-crawling in the more cameo role of Alberich.
Of the staging, other than the final scene, the stroke of genius was in Act 2 with the conjuring up of the Waldvogel, right from the enthralling stage effects, the increasingly ecstatic orchestration to the close up of Wotan/Wanderer clenching his fist to the timing of the final fortissimo clang. Overall, brilliant and a hearty recommendation. 10/10 Bethany Cox
It may not be a beautiful-looking production, in fact the Met productions I found far more visually appealing and ambitious generally, but in a way like in Act 2 the sparsity of the setting works well with the drama and Act 3 had some very interesting and suitably emotionally dizzying stage effects. The video directing and picture and sound quality are more than acceptable. Musically, I can't fault it. The orchestra are lush in parts, and foreboding and powerful in others especially with Fafner. Daniel Barenboim's conducting shows a sheer mastery of the score, with Act 3 thanks to him you can't wait to see what happens.
Although some may not find this Siegfried the most ideal if they're looking for great sets, but there are at least two assets that improve on the other productions. Especially with the design of Fafner, I found him cheap in look especially in the Morris Siegfried(oddly enough Fafner's slaying in that production was the single worst scene of any of the 2010-2012 Met Ring performances), but here he is terrifying. I also found Acts 2 and 3 riveting, not that the other productions weren't either, but here Act 2 emphasises Mime's buffoonery and Siegfried's oafishness the best I feel, and I found myself transfixed in the big final scene between Jerusalem and Anne Evans, I really believed in their chemistry and love here.
Siegfried Jerusalem is outstanding in the title role. The voice is musical and strong with no obvious signs of strain, and overall it is a very committed and dimensional portrayal, heroic yet tender. Anne Evans doesn't appear until just before the end as Brunnhilde, watching and hearing her it is well worth the wait. The singing is big and thrilling with no screeching or hollowness and she is gripping and very human dramatically. Her uttering of Sei Mein is genuinely passionate.
The rest of the cast are just as good, with Graham Clark a more sympathetic than usual yet still wily Mime. His singing is good, but the acting is what makes Clark's performance so great in this performance. John Tomlinson is an enormously resonant and truly remarkable Wanderer, with the scene between him and Brigitt Svensen's Erda indeed touching. Phillip Kang is a menacing Fafner and Gunter Von Kannen is skin-crawling in the more cameo role of Alberich.
Of the staging, other than the final scene, the stroke of genius was in Act 2 with the conjuring up of the Waldvogel, right from the enthralling stage effects, the increasingly ecstatic orchestration to the close up of Wotan/Wanderer clenching his fist to the timing of the final fortissimo clang. Overall, brilliant and a hearty recommendation. 10/10 Bethany Cox