Der Ring des Nibelungen (DVD): Kupfer, de Billy, Struckmann, Polaski, Treleaven, Clark
Stage director: Harry Kupfer
Conductor: Bertrand de Billy
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 2005
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Falk Struckmann, Graham
Clark, Elisabete Matos, Günter von
Kannen, Kwanchul Youn, Matthias Hölle, Wolfgang Rauch
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Eric Halfvarson, Richard Berkeley-Steele,
Deborah Polaski, Falk Struckmann, Linda Watson, Lioba Braun
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Falk Struckmann, John Treleaven, Deborah
Polaski, Graham Clark, Günter von Kannen
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Deborah Polaski, John Treleaven, Matti Salminen, Günter von Kannen, Falk Struckmann, Elisabete Matos
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Harry Kupfer's Ring from the Gran Teatre del Liceau
The Harry Kupfer Ring from the Gran Teatre del Liceau in Barcelona is a fascinating production. It is superior to his Bayreuth Ring visually, but otherwise almost everything else is better in the Bayreuth Ring.
Falk Struckmann (Wotan) is an intelligent singer, but neither his stage presence or voice can match the Bayreuth Wotan of John Tomlinson in 1991. Struckmann's Wotan is certainly the most unsympathetic available on DVD. The tragedy of Wotan's fall, the dilemmas and desperation, is lost in this interpretation. Struckman's shrill voice makes listening a trial, and the habit of inserting extra vowels in an attempt to create intensity is not the way to go.
Deborah Polaski (Brünnhilde) is a shadow of herself as she appears eight years earlier in the Kirchner/Rosalie Ring (only Götterdämmerung is available on DVD). John Treleaven is surprisingly good as Siegfried. When given the opportunity to give everything Treleaven can be great. Graham Clark gets the biggest ovation, and deservedly so as Loge and Mime. Clark's performances show very clearly why Mime and Loge should be sung by a character tenor and not fading heldentenors or heldentenors in spe. Lioba Braun is a great Fricka, although Kupfer sees her as the nagging housewife and not much more. Günter von Kannen set a new standard for Alberich in the Barenboim Ring, but has now faded both vocally and dramatically.
Kupfer's
Barcelona Ring on Amazon
Harry Kupfer also directed a great production of Der Ring des Nibelungen in Bayreuth