Die Walkure I . Oops.

Die Walküre - Royal Opera House, 26 September 2012

Is unintentional humour the most authentic element of any modern Ring production? After all, 19th century Bayreuth audiences split their corsets guffawing at the sadly literal ‘special effects’ sanctioned by Wagner himself. Brünnhilde’s entrance in Wednesday’s Die Walküre continued the tradition.

As if descending a ladder in a maxidress with the triumphant air of having accomplished a particularly tricky lightbulb change wasn’t entertaining enough all by itself, Susan Bullock then failed to detach herself from her clunky safety harness. As her pawing grew more frantic, a stagehand slipped into view and decoupled her as she ho-jo-to-ho'd her greeting.

She never quite recovered. Although the skills of the ROH makeup team have made a credible amazon of this Mrs Tiggywinkle, the vocal glamour was limited and the highest notes a stretch. Despite, or perhaps because of, an outstanding monologue from Bryn Terfel, the final act felt unbalanced.

But the evening got off to a fabulous start. Eva Maria Westbroek was in fine voice. Sir John Tomlinson made a brutal and terrifying Hunding. Simon O’Neill’s front-on death wound to the armpit was a fitting end to some pantoesque acting, but the vocal range of Siegmund allowed him to display more of his authentically heroic lower register and less of his pinched top.  

Best of all, the orchestra were on fire even before the stage burst into flames for the finale. With the tuba banished to the other side of the pit, I still had the full set of horns blaring into my ear, but the imbalance was far less marked than in Das Rheingold. The playing was crisp and propulsive; the tempi again perfectly judged. Only the Walkürenritt was a slight disappointment, some untidy playing matched by an unexpected but uninspired switch to minimalism in the stage design. Can Pappano can maintain this level of energy and inspiration for the rest of the cycles?

production photos (above) Clive Barda for Royal Opera House
curtain call photos (below) intermezzo.typepad.com

And here's the curtain call, courtesy of Kyoko:

Comments

[sub_opera]

Sadly,I agree that Bullock is not an ideal Brunnhilde. She reminds me of Lisa Gasteen in stage presence, although Gasteen was - with all her shortcomings - a better Brunnhilde.

Act III was really let down by her vocal limitations.

Act I, however, was ravishing!

[Lisa]

Connolly is a dead ringer of the Queen from Snow White here - whatever you do, do not bite into one of those apples she's clutching.

[Justin Chapman]

Bullock is squally, her tone is harsh, and these days her notes are approximate above the stave. I feel that most critics who rave about her do so just because she's British. She's quite similar to Gasteen, and not a patch on Anne Evans, but where's Nina Stemme when you need her, eh? Oh, and Miss Tiggywinkle - that hits the nail on the head, IM - LOL!

[Pushed Up Mezzo]

On this showing I have to agree. She seemed to have only half the vocal heft of the other principals and was a shadow of her excellent Elektra a few seasons back. Still a committed performance and no real shrieking or wobbling, but a disappointment. And thank the Gods for such boisterous, but vocally disciplined Valkyries! Whoever sang Helmwige (Meister?) produced the most lovely silvery soprano line of the night.
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Intermezzo - Yes, I should have mentioned Elisabeth Meister. Head and shoulders above the rest.

[Carl]

Sadly I won't get to see these cycles. They are obviously a time to take stock and tweek what happened in the individual productions, and two things that needed to be tweeked out were Brunnhilde's entrance down the ladder and the horse skulls, which simply don't work on stage.

[sub_opera]

This is from Fiona Maddocks in The Observer:

"Susan Bullock, in her first complete cycle for the ROH and not a minute too soon, has extraordinary power, her voice ringing out from upstage even when her back is turned to us. She radiates tender emotion in every gesture, essential but by no means a given for this archetypal Wagner heroine".

I fear that we are going to get to the end of this Ring Cycle without anyone openly criticising the obvious shortcomings of our Brunnhilde. A lone voice booed her awful Sigfried Brunnhilde last night (never has that ecstatic love duet ended so ungainfully).

There is a certain parochialism in the London media in that homegrown talent mustn't be scrutinised as severely as imports. If Bullock weren't British, the papers would have eaten her alive by now if impartiality was the order of the day.

[Justin Chapman]

Exactly. I imagine her voice will be in tatters by the fourth cycle. I wonder if Alywn Mellor will have to jump in for one of the Brunnhildes?

[John]

Blame Rupert Christiansen, who is waging a one-man campaign against foreign imports. Some of these have been disappointing, I agree, but the accusations that the ROH doesn't employ enough Brits seems unfair to me - there are plenty of youngish singers (Christine Rice, Toby Spence, Lucy Crowe) who get exposure - never mind superstars like Terfel. The problem is that the British musical establishment is in thrall to polite, subtle but small-scale singing that does not sell to an audience in opera. No British singer has ever won a prize at Operalia. Now why's that?

[verulamsteven]

Siegfried last night - Stefan Vinke - an unappealing voice, yet he does seem to have stamina and to navigate the part (mostly). Can anyone describe the sound he makes? (I am thinking as a starting point for description - a sort of non-wobbling, larger,robust but less bright edged Peter Pears sound) And yes the love duet was hard listening, only defrayed towards the end by the temperature rising from the orchestral contribution. Susan Bullock's voice isn't large enough and at best it is adequate, but as commented here -regularly harsh. The critic can't have been at the same performance as we were - oh hang on, there's only been one performance! Terfel continued to impress, as did Gerhard Siegl as Mime. I have a personal enthusiasm for Erik Halfvason (Fafner) who I enjoy hearing - he was very menacing as Hunding last time round (and gave the most menacing portrayal as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos I expect to ever see).

[Richard Carter]

I agree with Bullock's critics: she just doesn't have enough power. Quite an attractive voice, but simply not strong enough - and on the one occasion she tried to raise the decibels she just went into screech mode.

Astonishingly, Fiona Maddocks, writing in today's Observer, says "has extraordinary power, her voice ringing out from upstage even when her back is turned to us." I know views on music can differ, but this is extraordinary.

[Pushed Up Mezzo]

I was actually quite impressed by Vinke in this most arduous role. He actually seemed to gain confidence as the evening progressed and sounded reasonably boyish and impetuous. I too think it's quite a small voice (but not nearly as small as Pears), but he seems able to project above the orchestra without undue strain and the phrasing and words were all there. Maybe a bit like David Rendall's later career, especially Otello. Can't say Bullock was that harsh apart from one spectacular steam-whistle tuneless shriek in the final scene; for much of it she was barely audible. That Fiona Maddocks review looked like some of it had been written in advance. It was also poorly edited, with one sentence near the start completely lacking a main verb:

In Marie-Jeanne Lecca's costumes these everyday mythical folk kitted out in an eclectic array of patterned velvets and workaday hemp from all time, or – in the case of the hirsute, shrieking, skull-clutching Valkyries (excellent they were too) – timeless.

Saturday night deadlines perhaps? Though the performance ended quite early, just after 9.

[Justin Chapman]

Barry Millington in the ES similarly heaped praise on Bullock's performance in Siegfried. I do sometimes wonder what on earth makes these critics write such utter tripe. By the way, have you seen the casting for next year's Bayreuth Ring? Wolfgang Koch as Wotan/Wanderer - I mean - what the fuck?

[Sheila]

If the Grand Inquisitor isn't terrifying--the first time I saw Don Carlo I was stunned--he isn't doing his job right.

I'll have to find a clip of Halfvason and check him out.

[Jane Susanna Ennis]

I must say I didn't like the horses' skulls in 2007, and I still don't like them!

[Roberto Cacciaglia]

I totally agree! And the same applies to others too, if one really wanted to be frank.

It is sad that critics are so partial, when objectivity should be a vital part in every review.
It proves that they are just people who for one reason or another (competence often not being one) have the privilege of expressing and divulging their own ideas through the media. I never take any notice of what they say, especially when they write 'raving reviews'.

[Roberto Cacciaglia]

Justin, do you usually take notice of what Barry Millington writes or thinks?
I don't! ;-)

[Rheinbear]

To be fair, Rupert Christiansen was one of only two critics I have read in the National Press (Michael Tanner being the other) who was honest about Susan Bullock's failings. I have just read Barry Millington on her Götterdämmerung and it bears absolutely no relation to what I heard last night in the theatre (and which I will duly check on iPlayer).
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Intermezzo replies - And to be fair to all the critics, they were listening to a different performance from you. Singers are not machines, and they are not CDs. Some evenings they sing better than others - and the difference can be considerable, especially when older singers and more demanding roles are involved.

I too think most of them were over-generous, but not completely deaf. Having been present at both shows, I can report that Bullock sang much, much better in the first one, and several of the more positive reviewers picked their words carefully to highlight her strengths without mentioning her weaknesses.

[Rheinbear]

Not "extraordinary." Worse than that, simply not true.