13895 Wagner News 174 - Wagner Society of England

DVD REVIEW: THE LÜBECK RING
Chris Argent
In 2009 while watching the Fura dels Baus Ring in Valencia we engaged in conversation
with a German Wagner devotee who told us that we should on no account miss the
Lübeck Ring, so the opportunity to review the DVD of that Cycle in the comfort of our
own home was a gift indeed, and convinced us that being provincial is no bar to staging
and, particularly, playing Wagner’s mighty Ring cycle.
Whether tackling a major opus like Der Ring or a lightweight offering such as
Gianni Schicchi, the director has to decide at the outset (assuming he or she knows the
story line) whether to take liberties with the settings specified in order to make a
particular statement or, because there is just a lack of vision, whether to ignore them
completely, or to make a brave attempt to realize on stage what the composer and librettist
had envisaged. We all know examples of each of these ploys with respect to Der Ring.
Taking the musical achievements first, it has to be said
that the Lübeck orchestra is magnificent, the brass section
playing particularly impressively, the sound enhanced one
suspects by the Bayreuth-style cowl with which the pit is
shielded from the auditorium. Conductor Roman Brogli-
Sacher seemed totally at home with Wagner’s score,
enabling the overall architecture to emerge while giving
appropriate attention to the structural details. The
orchestra might be provincial in name, but its output could
be mistaken for one of the more glamorous orchestras of
the world. This then provided an admirable framework for
those singers who would shine, among whom I would
include Rebecca Teem as Brünnhilde who completed her
journey through the cycle with passion, power, nuance
and a tireless lyricism, though she did labour under the
burden of a less than prepossessing appearance – especially in comparison with her
glamorous Walküre sisters: she was undoubtedly the star of the show.
It was unfortunate that the role of Siegfried was shared. In Siegfried Jürgen Müller
sang and acted with great conviction and lasted the course to the end without turning a
hair of which he had a plenitude demonstrating that Mime was too mean to take him to
the barbers or even trim his golden locks himself. In Götterdämmerung Richard Decker
seemed underpowered or overawed or both, and looked more like a stockbroker than an
uncouth young lad fresh out of the forest. Stefan Heidemann gave a bravura performance
as Wotan though he produces some sour notes in the scene with Brünnhilde in Die
Walküre. Overall he offers a completely convincing characterization of this flawed mixedup
god. One is left wondering at the Verdian nature of the father-daughter relationship as
Wotan’s final kiss is more like that of a lover, the two collapsing as if after coitus.
Loge is the weak link lyrically in Das Rheingold, the voice rather sour, wobbling
alarmingly and too often off the note which is especially unfortunate given the lovely
music Wagner gave him to sing when he reports back on the world’s attitude towards love
and the eternal female (always reminding me of the delightful duet for Papageno and
Pamina). Veronika Waldner is competent and even affecting as Wotan’s sorely oppressed
wife and as Waltraute she was passionate in her appeal to Brünnhilde, singing with such
great conviction and lyricism that it almost makes it surprising that Brünnhilde can
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