Die Walkure (NZSO, 28/07/2012)
Simon O'Neill (Siegmund), Edith Haller (Sieglinde), Christine Goerke (Brunnhilde), John Wegner (Wotan), Jonathan Lemalu (Hunding), Margaret Medlyn (Fricka), Amanda Atlas, Anna Pierard, Sarah Castle, Kate Spence, Kristen Darragh, Lisa Harper-Brown, Morag Atchison, Wendy Doyle (Valkyries), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Pietari Inkinen (conductor)
So, here's my first review ever. This Walkure made such an impression on me that I wanted to try to organise my thought on it in some sort of coherent fashion and this is the awkwardly written result:
There's no doubt that there was a real sense of occasion surrounding this performance. For a start, Wagner performances are vanishingly rare in Auckland. Secondly, the NZSO is not known for programming operas in its seasons. And thirdly, the performance was completely sold out, so expectations were obviously high. By and large, these expectations were met, with a Siegmund, Sieglinde and Brunnhilde of whom superlatives aren't really adequate to describe. Though a concert performance, it was sung without scores and there was a certain amount of interaction between characters, with the sopranos (Christine Goerke and Edith Haller) making most of the space.
Simon O'Neill's voice has certainly matured since I last saw him; the slightly unpleasant bleating quality on his high notes seens to have completely disappeared. Perhaps he is helped by the relatively low tessitura of the role, but Siegmund fits him perfectly vocally. His lower range was full and rich all night and the lyrical episodes had a degree of musical shaping that was the finest I have heard from him. The pair of 'Walse's held no fear for him, voice ringing out into the hall heroically. O'Neill is performing this role at Covent Garden next year; based on this performance I'd say deservedly so. Probably the most developed in a surprisingly good crop of opera singers that New Zealand has produced over the last few years.
As for his sister-wife, I simply cannot imagine a better Sieglinde than South Tyrolean soprano Edith Haller. From her first entrance she was both physically and vocally alert. I hear her voice as essentially a bright, high soprano, but this extends down to the lowest of Sieglinde's lines without any loss of colour or projection. In addition to this, her diction was spectacularly clear, all of Wagner's alliterations etc. coming across perfectly. And the high register burst forth like a flame, filling the hall with the most glowing yet urgent tone, the voice seeming to get bigger and bigger the higher it went. "O hehrstes Wunder" was a definite highpoint, Inkinen slowing down to let Haller make the fullest effect possible.
Our Brunnhilde was American Christine Goerke, who has been active for around fifteen years in a mind-blowing variety of roles (Norma, Fiordiligi, Ortrud, Alcina, Elektra, Musetta, etc.) and here she certainly had the chops to handle every vocal demand Wagner throws at Brunnhilde. There is a certain amount of vibrato in the voice but it is completely regular and lends the voice a certain glamour. Her entrance 'Hojotoho's were relatively light and silvery of voice, high Cs ever so airily touched upon and with absolutely perfect trills (!). She was coy and girlish in her initial dealings with Wotan but brought the right amount of gravity to the Todesverkündigung scene with Siegmund. Much of Brunnhilde's music in Walküre likes almost mezzo-low, but Goerke filled Wagner's lines with full, burnished tone. It was only our particular seats (Goerke was facing away from us for much of Act 2) that stopped us from fully experiencing her whole sound. No such problem in Act 3, however. 'Fort denn eile' had Goerke hurling her vibrant voice out into the hall (she certainly had no trouble competing with the orchestra). Her expressive handling of the text in the final scenes with Wotan completed her transition from naive warrior maid in alternately pleading and noble tones. Particularly ravishing was the long crescendo on "ihm innig vertraut". Demanding that Wotan raise a wall of fire around her, her voice took on the most stunning vulnerability alongside the power and she was tremendously involved and involving emotionally (to the extent that she was crying genuine tears at the end).
John Wegner had a keen command of the text as Wotan; it was unfortunately that throughout most of his big moments he was largely inaudible. Fine musical ideas that were mostly drowned out by the orchestra. I heard that he had been suffering from a cold at the Wellington performances so maybe this was a legacy of that. Margaret Medlyn made a shrewish Fricka - she still has just enough vocie left for the role, but Fricka can be a more interesting character than she put across. Jonathan Lemalu as Hunding was, frankly, awful. He had a malevolent stage presence but this couldn't make up for the croaky, ill-pitched singing. Our team of Valkyries were remarkable consistent, with particularly good performances Morag Atchison in her first entrance as Helmwige.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra played thrillingly throughout with barely a blip in the brass. The string section was in particularly good form, offering burnished tone and there was some beautifully shaped playing from the bass clarinet. I have some mixed feelings about Pietari Inkinen. Give him a section of music with great lyrical sweep and he will galvanise the singer and orchestra to give a full-bodied and exciting rendition. Everything from "Ein Schwert verhiess" until the end of Act 1 was a prime example of this - absolutely thrilling stuff. But somehow he couldn't create a cohesive whole - it was more a series of beautiful and exciting moments separated by parts which just seemed like filler. Act 2 in particular suffered as the tension seemed to slip away during Wotan's monologues.
All in all, though, a great performance and I sincerely hope the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra brings some more opera in concert to Auckland. Perhaps a Frau ohne Schatten with a similar cast?
Our Brunnhilde was American Christine Goerke, who has been active for around fifteen years in a mind-blowing variety of roles (Norma, Fiordiligi, Ortrud, Alcina, Elektra, Musetta, etc.) and here she certainly had the chops to handle every vocal demand Wagner throws at Brunnhilde. There is a certain amount of vibrato in the voice but it is completely regular and lends the voice a certain glamour. Her entrance 'Hojotoho's were relatively light and silvery of voice, high Cs ever so airily touched upon and with absolutely perfect trills (!). She was coy and girlish in her initial dealings with Wotan but brought the right amount of gravity to the Todesverkündigung scene with Siegmund. Much of Brunnhilde's music in Walküre likes almost mezzo-low, but Goerke filled Wagner's lines with full, burnished tone. It was only our particular seats (Goerke was facing away from us for much of Act 2) that stopped us from fully experiencing her whole sound. No such problem in Act 3, however. 'Fort denn eile' had Goerke hurling her vibrant voice out into the hall (she certainly had no trouble competing with the orchestra). Her expressive handling of the text in the final scenes with Wotan completed her transition from naive warrior maid in alternately pleading and noble tones. Particularly ravishing was the long crescendo on "ihm innig vertraut". Demanding that Wotan raise a wall of fire around her, her voice took on the most stunning vulnerability alongside the power and she was tremendously involved and involving emotionally (to the extent that she was crying genuine tears at the end).
John Wegner had a keen command of the text as Wotan; it was unfortunately that throughout most of his big moments he was largely inaudible. Fine musical ideas that were mostly drowned out by the orchestra. I heard that he had been suffering from a cold at the Wellington performances so maybe this was a legacy of that. Margaret Medlyn made a shrewish Fricka - she still has just enough vocie left for the role, but Fricka can be a more interesting character than she put across. Jonathan Lemalu as Hunding was, frankly, awful. He had a malevolent stage presence but this couldn't make up for the croaky, ill-pitched singing. Our team of Valkyries were remarkable consistent, with particularly good performances Morag Atchison in her first entrance as Helmwige.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra played thrillingly throughout with barely a blip in the brass. The string section was in particularly good form, offering burnished tone and there was some beautifully shaped playing from the bass clarinet. I have some mixed feelings about Pietari Inkinen. Give him a section of music with great lyrical sweep and he will galvanise the singer and orchestra to give a full-bodied and exciting rendition. Everything from "Ein Schwert verhiess" until the end of Act 1 was a prime example of this - absolutely thrilling stuff. But somehow he couldn't create a cohesive whole - it was more a series of beautiful and exciting moments separated by parts which just seemed like filler. Act 2 in particular suffered as the tension seemed to slip away during Wotan's monologues.
All in all, though, a great performance and I sincerely hope the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra brings some more opera in concert to Auckland. Perhaps a Frau ohne Schatten with a similar cast?
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