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The Netherlands Opera's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle has been a perplexing experience on DVD.
Sometimes providing great insight, sometimes appearing completely devoid of thought, it is certainly worth watching once but I don't think I'll be playing it repeatedly.
The conductor Hartmut Haenchen has referred to the new edition of the Complete Wagner Edition for the production, often creating greater clarity of textures and bringing out the classical lines that form the composer's complex harmonic language. The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is the real star of the show, conjuring up the River Rhine, magic fire and the Hall of the Gibichungs far better than the monstrous set ever could.
Apparently, Pierre Audi's production is meant to be intimate and simple, but the idea of having the stage encircle the orchestra in a kind of Starlight Express-type manner only makes the space bigger. In this cavernous arena the singers struggle to project, and voices are frequently lost on the DVD because of difficulties with the placing of microphones. In addition, the camera angles are often awkward, especially when using the stage in front of the orchestra: do we really need to see Kurt Rydl's hairy chest from below?
George Tsypin's sets are modern or sometimes futuristic, which works well for the big moments, such as when the chorus finally enters the Ring in the second act of this opera. But aside from the acoustical problems, occasionally we lose the element of myth that is at the heart of the four operas. It's ridiculous to have the Tarnhelm resemble a piece of headwear left over from a production of The Mikado, and Eiko Ishioka's costumes are frequently very odd rather than 'intimate and transparent' (as the press release claims).
The musical performance makes up for a lot, however. In particular, Kurt Rydl's Hagen is a vivid portrayal of this jealous and manipulative character, singing with immense power and dominating ever scene in which he appears. His companions in crime, Gunther and Gutrune, are also sung with conviction, by Wolfgang Schöne and Eva-Maria Bundschuh.
Jeannine Altmeyer may not be the most physically robust Brünnhilde around, but she certainly has enormous vocal stamina. The Immolation Scene is captivating, despite a stupid staging that has her engulfed in a symbolic red cloth in the manner of the Kabuki theatre, and her duet with Siegfried in Act 1 is very intense. I detest the way she is made up – how did she manage to sing the part while looking such a hag? Her Siegfried is sung by Heinz Kruse, who easily outclasses John Treleaven's dry-voiced account at Covent Garden last year. He's particularly good when wandering in on the Gibichungs in Act 2; elsewhere his voice is equally heroic, even if his acting doesn't quite shape up.
Henk Smit's Alberich is slightly anonymous; Anne Gjevang is a passionate and velvet-voiced Waltraute; and the three Rhine Maidens steal the show with a captivating return in the final act.
The real problem is that with the Boulez, Barenboim and Levine Rings all offering better casts and productions, why would you want to buy this second-division performance, however well it is played?
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