Mon, 30 May 2005
Wagner, Das Rheingold
Falk Struckmann, Graham Clark, Gunter von Kannen,
Lioba Braun, Kwanchui Youn
Bertrand de Billy
Harry Kupfer
2 DVD's, Opus Arte
This is the prelude to Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, a
three day extravaganza of kunstartwerke (total art work),
a Wagner conception that involved a flowing, non-repetitive
form of music with attention to every detail of staging
and performance. The words "control freak" apply!
One of the interests in reasonably frequently performed
pieces is the interpretation: what have the organisers made
of all this? Sometimes, these days, we have politically
correct versions that would make the authors utter curses
from the grave, and at others there are versions that play
around with presentation in such a way as to suggest the
passing whims of a teenager -- totally skin deep.
This performance is a bit of a mixture. The staging and
costumes suggest the teenager but the performance is, if
not perfectly classically Wagnerian (and if not, why bother?) at
least a close cousin.
All of this, of course, is relevant on a DVD where it
isn't on CD -- we can see what's going on. Once we can
see, it colours our judgement. And tastes differ markedly on
what is good and bad visually. This isn't bad, it's just not
a classic performance.
(Count K)
[]
permanent link
| 
pre Dec 04 reviews are here
