Ask most people about Wagner and there'd be the odd joke about "that guy from the X Factor" or the "footballer who played for CSKA Moscow". Most people would struggle to name one of composer Richard's operas, yet his influence in modern classical music, particularly film scores, is pretty much unparalleled.
The German's magnum opus Der Ring des Nibelungen, a cycle of four epic operas, plays at The Royal Concert Hall this week, produced by Opera North. Anyone expecting the smell of napalm in the morning would have been disappointed - The Ride of the Valkyries opens Act 3 of the second opera in the quadrology. Last night, I caught Das Rheingold, the first and shortest instalment - though still clocking in at two hours forty with no interval.
The story is equal parts Tolkein and Marvel's Thor: Alberich, a dwarf from the underground kingdom of Nibelung, steals the Rhinegold, a wondrous treasure guarded by the daughters of the Rhine, and forges a ring that brings him infinite power. Wotan, ruler of the gods, plots to seize the ring as a bargaining chip in his dispute with the giants over the goddess Freia.
Being performed in the Concert Hall rather than the more traditional proscenium arch of the Theatre Royal gives this production a much different feel and it's reflected in the stage choices of directorial team of Peter Mumford and Joe Austin. The stage is towered over by a huge projector screen delivering both surtitling (the opera is sung in its native German) and supposedly atmospheric backgrounds. It fails handsomely at both too.
The backgrounds look like a year 9 ITC project on Powerpoint and achieve only to disrupt the legibility of the surtitles. They were painfully bad. Equally the stage action was limited in terms of what the singers could do by way of acting without set or much stage space, where they had been usurped by the magnificent orchestra. I could have done with even less of the apparent acting which comprised of some gesturing, some choreographed water nymphs and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke ruining his performance of Loge with an array of effete waves, hand-jives and spirit-fingers routines. A more stylised approach - like that used by James Cresswell and Mats Almgren's giants - would have been a braver and better move.
For all the issues with the staging, the music is incredible - the tone that Wagner creates and the dexterity of it, from the beautiful opening prelude to the entrance of the giants, is vast. Every note John Williams ever scored for Star Wars is here and the sound is magical. The horn part in the gentle prelude, the sudden aging of the gods when their apples of eternal youth are taken away and the choir of 18 tuned anvils depicting of the toiling of the enslaved dwarves of Nibelung are all beautifully realised and created by Wagner in the music - there's no need for projections, just playing.
The orchestra really are stunning and it's certainly a first for me seeing one with six harps to play the specific parts of Wagner's precise score. Much of the sung text is given as recitative - a sort of musical spoken-sung declamation - rather than the lyrically expansive sung sections of the more traditional Italian style operas. There aren't the stand-out arias of a Mozart, Puccini or my guilty favourite Rossini, which makes some of the singing feel a little deflated. Wagner likes long scenes and these can drag if there's any great discussion to be had without a lively underscore.
Wagner brings his own cheerleaders - all linen jackets, woven ties and chinos - but at the end, when their accented rolled "R"s fill the Concert Hall in their "bravo"s, it's impossible not to be swept up by an amazing hour and a half of spell-binding music.
As one of the few people under thirty in the audience, it will be interesting to see how opera survives as an art form with its audience of baby boomers becoming increasingly older. The sheer weight of Arts Council subsidy for the production must be huge and ticket prices not super cheap. It was a wonderful night at the opera and whilst work stops me from seeing Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung I recommend trying to catch one. With an average running time of 6 hours each (I was a proper lightweight with Rheingold lasting under 3) you'll get plenty of bang for your buck!
Opera North's Das Rheingold played at the Royal Concert Hall on Monday 6 June 2016 as part of their Wagner the Ring Cycle series.
Sat 11 June 2016 Götterdämmerung
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
