Die Walküre (DVD, Weimar Ring): Carl St. Clair, Michael Schulz, Renatus Mészár, Catherine Foster, Erin Caves, Kirsten Blanck, Hidekazu Tsumaya, Christine Hansmann

Catherine Foster and Erin Caves

Catherine Foster (Brünnhilde) and Erin Caves (Siegmund) in the Todesverkündigung scene, Die Walküre, Act 2.

Weimar Ring Walküre Conductor Carl St. Clair
Stage director Michael Schulz

Siegmund Erin Caves
Sieglinde Kirsten Blanck
Hunding Hidekazu Tsumaya
Wotan Renatus Mészár
Brünnhilde Catherine Foster
Fricka Christine Hansmann
Helmwige Silona Michel
Gerhilde Susann Günther-Dissmeier
Ortlinde Joana Caspar
Waltraute Marie-Helen Joël
Siegrune Carola Guber
Rossweisse Christiane Bassek
Grimgerde Kerstin Quandt
Schwertleite Nadine Weissmann
Grane Erika Krämer
Freia as Harpist Elisabeth Anetseder-Meyer
Donner Lars Creuzburg
Froh / Loge Steffen Bärtl

Weimar Staatskapelle
Set design Dirk Becker
Costume design Renée Listerdal
Directed for television and video: Brooks Riley

Recorded live from Deutsches Nationaltheater, Weimar 2008.

A production of the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar, Staatstheater Thüringen

REGION 0

Subtitles: German, English, Spanish, Italian, French

Catherine Foster triumphs in the exciting Weimar Walküre

The Weimar Walküre on DVD/BluRay continues what was a very exciting start with Das Rheingold. The staging is very interesting, the filming and editing is excellent, the musical level very good - and a new great Brünnhilde is born in Catherine Foster.

Even with minimalistic sets (Dirk Becker) the production team manages to produce a visually exciting performance. Good costumes and Personenregie from stage director Michael Schulz contribute to keep up the tension through all three acts. A better cooperation between the lightning departement and the camera crew would have been desirable though. This could have avoided some unnecessary shadows on the face of the singers.

The video editing is just as great as on the Rheingold DVD. The mixture of closeups and longshots, not to mention unobtrusive camera angles, are chosen to give maximum narrative effect. You get the intensity of facial expressions, but at the same time the necessary overview. This is, in my opinion, a model for recording and editing opera on DVD. Only one instance I found not satisfactory, and that was the killing of Siegmund in Act 2. Here the editing created a confusing visual representation of what was going on.

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Wotan (Renatus Mészár) disguised as one of Hundings men. Not even Sieglinde (Kirsten Blanck) can see him.

weimar walküre

Wotan (Renatus Mészár) is there, but Siegmund (Erin Caves) cannot see him.

As I see it, Michael Schulz's basic interest is in the tetralogy's family themes. After having seen Rheingold and Walküre, it is clear that this is a demythologized Ring: it is the human drama that seems to be of interest to Michael Schulze. The gods are trapped in a deadly game of deceit and ignorance. But at the same time, certain non-realistic elements are present, like the ever present "horse" Grane, played by an actor with long white hair and ghost-like black clothes.

weimar / st clair ring - walküre

When Brünnhilde's horse Grane (yes, the lady in black) is present on stage, it creates a strange atmosphere of something surreal and a bit eerie.

Deadly is a key word for the wonderful parallell between the Todesverkündigung scene and the ending when Brünnhilde is punished for helping the incestous Siegmund. These are the central scenes in this Walküre production, linking marriage to death, family to hell. In the Todesverkündigung scene Brünnhilde comes as a messenger from the kingdom of the Dead, and later she is punished by being sent into the visually equivalent of death with a wedding dress in her hands. The prospects are devastating.

The Todesverkündigung as a parallell scene to Brünnhilde's punishment.

Brünnhilde in wedding dress in the final scene. Then the door opening turnes to resemble a grave or a bed.

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As in Das Rheingold, Michael Schulze has a surprise for us before the music starts. Also in Die Walküre text fragments from Siegfried's Death are used (Norns speaking), but now they are sung by Wotan's valkyrie daughters at a private family party. The sinister text is sung with a light-hearted tone. It is obvious that no one understands the implications as they giggle and joke.

But then Alberich comes in, pulls up a boy (Siegmund as a boy?) from the floor. The boy's alarming shout frightens everyone. It is as if they are waking up to find themselves in a nightmare. Die Walküre can begin.

In Act 1 Wotan has disguised himself as one of Hundings men to be near the actions following Rheingold. He is present all the time in Hundings cabin, and gives Siegmund the sword. This is a very clever move from stage director Michael Schulz since it creates additional dramatic tension to the Act. Wotan is there, but no one sees him. Wotan's feeling of triumph at the beginning of Act 2 is visually easier to understand when we have witnessed how he has watched and partly directed everything that happened in Act 1.

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The valkyries are very much like any twelve year old girls, giggling and fooling their father. A bloody corpse lying in the bed suggests, though, that they are not 100% normal - or maybe I should say human.

The beginning of Act 3 is a little anti-climax, set in the valkyries's bed chamber. Also the emotional impact of Wotan's punishment is played down. This is of course the director's choice, but visualizing one of the greatest climaxes in the history of music (following Wotan's words "Denn einer nur freie die Braut, der freier als ich, der Gott") simply by Wotan giving Brünnhilde a box with a wedding dress in, is a bit hard to swallow. Nothing wrong with letting the actions on stage contrast what the orchestra is playing, as we have seen to great effect in Christoph Marthaler's Tristan at Bayreuth, but for me something was missing in this scene.

As mentioned, the great surprise was the magnificent Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde. She acts convincingly and sings the part better than most Brünnhildes today.

weimar walkure wotan brunnhilde