Götterdämmerung (DVD), Alfred Kirchner, James Levine, Rosalie, Deborah Polaski, Wolfgang Schmidt, Anne Schwanewilms, Falk Struckmann, Eric Halfvarson, Hanna Schwarz
Conductor: James Levine
Stage director: Alfred Kirchner
Set and costume design: Rosalie
Brünnhilde: Deborah Polaski
Siegfried: Wolfgang Schmidt
Gutrune: Anne Schwanewilms
Gunther: Falk Struckmann
Hagen: Eric Halfvarson
Waltraute: Hanna Schwarz
Bayreuther Festspiele
2 DVD-VIDEO NTSC 073 4340 |G|H 2| STEREO: PCM / SURROUND: DTS 5.1 • Picture Format: 4:3 Subtitles: German/English/French/Spanish/Chinese A production of UNITEL, Munich. Deutsche Grammophone
The Kirchner/Rosalie Ring was shown in Bayreuth in 1994-99. The only part of it that was filmed was the Götterdämmerung. I saw this Ring in 1997, and I made interviews with Poul Elming (who sang Siegmund in Die Walküre) and John Tomlinson (who sang Wotan in Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried). You can read the interviews (only in Norwegian) here. I appreciated the visual power of this Ring (the set design and costumes were by Rosalie), and seeing Götterdämmerung on DVD later hasn't changed my positive feelings, although I must confess that I am also ambivalent.
With the Götterdämmerung we move into a dark and depressing world. The Norn scene foreshadows a dark outcome and the male leader (Gunther) is controlled by the evil Hagen (Alberich's son).
It is indeed night on earth.
Rosalie's Ring, not Kirchner's
If you don't find Rosalie's sets and costumes attractive or at least interesting, this DVD is nothing for you. The singers are generally good, but this Ring would definitely not be my preferred choice if I only listened to it from a CD.
Rosalie's sets are suggestive, minimalistic and quite abstract, some would say futuristic. Elements are often abstracted from real life. She makes an efficient use of recurring elements to make a coherent visual style: the vertical lines, the bellow theme, not to mention the fine use of light and colour (in Götterdämmerung especially in orange and blue). Some elements are reused effectively, for instance the spears of the Gibichsmannen are also used as walls.
I cannot help thinking of children's pre-naturalistic drawings when I look at Rosalie's style. Siegfried's sword, for instance. The Rhinemaidens play on a stylish jungle gym. Rosalie seems to have had a lot of fun making this Ring.
The "designer quality" and light-hearted playfulness is obviously a reaction to the dark sets of the previous Ring in Bayreuth (by Harry Kupfer in 1988–92). An interesting feature of the Bayreuth Rings is that they comment upon each other. Rosalie's Ring is no exception. More on this topic later.
Without the visual power created by Rosalie, this Ring would obviously have been a rather mediocre production. Some have criticised this Ring for being “hijacked” by Rosalie at the cost of Kirchner’s reduced influence as a director. One may wonder if the collaboration between Kirchner and Rosalie was really optimal.
Rosalie's sets and costumes are the production's strong side, but also its weakness. The production actually lacks depth. It is unable (or unwilling) to penetrate into the tragedy. This may also be due to director Alfred Kirchner's shortcomings. The characters are not human beings. The suffering, the doubt, the passion, the sorrow, the hatred, the anxiety and the ambivalence – where is it? I could not find it, not in 1997, nor in 2008.
The interaction between the characters are generally taken well hand of by Kirchner, but his Personenregie is in no way comparable to Harry Kupfer’s. Kupfer is a real master in this respect. (Kupfer’s provocative Ring from Bayreuth is also available on DVD.)
The performers: James Levine, Deborah Polaski, Wolfgang Schmidt, Eric Halfvarson, Falk Struckmann
James Levine’s swelling sound is not to my taste. I find that he misses too many details. Siegfried's Rheinfahrt is superb, though (but very poorly solved by Kirchner on stage).
Wolfgang Schmidt is a snotty brat as Siegfried, there is not much of a hero left in this kindergarten boy. Schmidt struggles with the score, but not many singers could sing Siegfried better than him back in 1997. Eric Halfvarson is wonderful in the theatre and even more so on DVD. His Hagen is as mean and evil as it gets. His great dramatic scenic presence saves a character on the verge of turning into a cliché. Falk Struckmann is allowed a more deeper characterization, and he delivers a very strong performance as the weak Gunther.
Deborah Polaski is expressive as Brünnhilde, strong but also vulnerable. Vocally she is much better in this Ring than in the Kupfer Ring in Barcelona. She is also good looking and performs with authority. Hanna Schwarz (as Waltraute, partly dressed as a samurai) and Anne Schwanewilms (Gutrune) I find a bit anonymous.
If the soloists fail in Bayreuth, you'll always have the wonderful Bayreuth chorus. To experience this chorus in the Festspielhaus is one of the greatest things about visiting the festival. The homogenous sound they produce is really incredible. The "Gross Glück und Heil" makes my flesh creep.
The camera work is generally good, but the producer missed Gunther's funny walk up and down the stairs of his "throne" (42:20). The irony here is wonderful. Gunther sings with pathos (and with hollow gestures) "Sitz' ich herrlich am Rhein, Gunther, zu Gibichs Ruhm?" while he walks silly up and down the stairs.
My ambivalence towards this production is due to the fact that its most interesting aspect lies in its visual qualities – a strange result for a music drama. This is Rosalie's Ring, not Kirchner's, and this is a problem (for me, maybe not for Rosalie). I mean, think about it, would you ever dream of calling the preceeding Ring in Bayreuth anything else but the Kupfer Ring? Or Chéreau's Ring by the name of the set designer?
Deborah Polaski as Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung (Kirchner/Rosalie, 1997)
Rosalie’s Homepage
Wolfgang Schmidt
Interview
with Deborah Polaski
About
Deborah Polaski on Wiener-staatsoper.at
Anne Schwanewilms’s Homepage
Interview with Eric Halfvarson