Germany Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Refrain and Extras of Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Oldenburgisches Staatsorchester / Vito Cristofaro (conductor). “Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, 17.1.2024. (DMD)
Manufacturing:
Director – Paul Esterhazy
Revival director – Mathilda Kochan
Stage and Costume design – Mathis Neidhardt
Lighting design – Ernst Engel/ Regina Kirsch
Dramaturgy – Stephanie Twiehaus
Solid:
Siegmund – Martin Iliev
Hunding – Sami Luttinen
Wotan – Kihun Yoon
Sieglinde – Ann-Beth Solvang
Brünnhilde – Nancy Weissbach
Fricka – Kathrin Göring
Gerhilde – Joo-Anne Bitter
Ortlinde – Susanne Serfling
Waltraute – Maren Engelhardt
Schwertleite – Maiju Vaahtoluoto
Helmwige – Martha Eason
Siegrune – Nana Dzidziguri
Grimgerde – Sarah Alexandra Hudarew
Rossweisse – Hanna Larissa Naujoks
In Oldenburg, Die Walküre (as a part of a whole Ring) is a significant inventive achievement, defying any location or firm size-related prejudice. Oldenburg State Theatre affords the total vary of performing arts: theatre, opera, ballet, music and theatre for kids. Opera is principally offered within the largest theatre area in the primary neo-baroque constructing courting from the late-nineteenth century. With some 500 seats it’s among the many smaller theatre and opera homes in Germany. The town itself is at a good distance away from main hubs resembling Hamburg. Owing to its location and measurement, this type of opera home could be known as provincial, at all times a problematic prejudice! With a funds and workers shared by the complete theatre, staging Wagner’s Ring over a variety of years is a really formidable monetary and inventive problem. The corporate in Oldenburg launched into this venture in 2017 however plans to current the primary three full Ring cycles within the firm’s historical past in 2020 have been postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Die Walküre has now been revived for 3 performances.
The director, Paul Esterhazy, obtained a lot media reward for a constant idea throughout the 4 elements of the Ring. The units place a lot emphasis on a number of rooms organized on a revolving stage (an thought I additionally noticed within the Zürich Ring). Initially of Die Walküre, working wolves are projected, in silhouette, towards the gray exterior partitions of a wood constructing. A person, clearly Siegmund, carrying the wolfskin he later refers to, full with wolf head, opens the door to that constructing and runs in. The partitions slide sideways, revealing the inside – the door by way of which Siegmund simply entered is in the back of the stage, a hallway leads in direction of the entrance, with one room every branching off to the left and proper. Additional rooms are positioned subsequent to those, made seen by way of the revolving stage when mandatory. Typically the characters transfer first, because the revolving stage follows their motion, virtually seeming to set the agenda. The inside is equally gray, rural and rustic each for Hunding’s abode and for Valhalla. Costumes point out the roles that the characters play in that world: Wotan and Fricka are rich farmers, with Fricka affected by goitre and in want of wheelchair for longer distances. The primary scene in Act II takes place in Wotan and Fricka’s bed room. Brünnhilde’s horse, Grane, is represented by a really previous man in rags and on two strolling sticks, who strikes about slowly and sits down as a lot as potential, normally in some darkish nook or within the hallways, resting his head on his arms positioned on the 2 strolling sticks. Hunding is a warfare veteran (injured, limping). When he’s at dwelling, Sieglinde should not stand upright: she squats when not shifting, and crawls on her arms and knees to get round in the home. Bodily abuse from Hunding is a every day expertise for her. The Valkyries put on bloodied butchers’ aprons, they deal with the corpses they obtain as if in a morgue, full with post-mortem desk and open cabinets; if new arrivals usually are not utterly lifeless but, the Valkyries unceremoniously, cheerfully and effectively minimize their throats with their butchers’ knives.
The scale of the corporate and the theatre area had implications for the manufacturing: from a smallish pit, the orchestra can’t unleash fortissimo taking part in right into a small theatre area for lengthy, for concern of the sound turning into actually painful to listen to. Conductor Vito Cristofaro, new to Die Walküre, was keenly conscious of this and led his orchestra with nice care to energetic and energetic however on the similar time fairly mild, delicate and considerate taking part in – with out permitting the stress to sag. Some elements of the brass have been at first a bit of shaky however warmed up in the end.
Solely Kihun Yoon and Ann-Beth Solvang, the singers of Wotan and Sieglinde, are members of the resident firm. One other firm member, Melanie Lang, introduced as Fricka, needed to withdraw at brief discover to get replaced by Kathrin Göring, who’s singing Fricka on the present Opera Leipzig revival of Die Walküre (evaluation right here). The opposite characters have been all sung by visitor artists. The administrators of Oldenburg State Theatre managed to assemble a solid that was homogenous when it comes to achievement – fairly than having a extra uneven mixture of skills. Yoon sang Wotan with nice dedication; he took care to not exceed his skills, choosing some very calm and laid-back passages within the narrations, thus permitting him to retain the energy wanted for a exceptional ‘Leb wohl’ on the finish. Solvang sang Sieglinde with equal energy throughout the registers, with an emphasis on the creating love for Siegmund. Martin Iliev had preliminary difficulties with intonation and wobble – with appreciable enchancment after the cries of ‘Wälse’, which appeared to have warmed up his voice. From then on, he sang with way more ease, actually dependable and even with tonal magnificence for some passages. Hunding’s nastiness got here throughout intensely in Samit Luttinen’s appearing. It was all of the extra spectacular that his singing was not diminished to shouting and barking: he demonstrated an alert consciousness and expression of the fantastic thing about the music Wagner created even for this despicable character. Nancy Weissbach sang Brünnhilde. Her voice is powerful – she rides above the orchestra with ease (not solely as a result of the orchestra was taking part in gently). She is a singer with a superb, white fairly than golden higher register and gleaming, sustained high notes to begin with. She has developed comparable energy for the well-rounded and full center and decrease registers required for the a part of Brünnhilde. Kathrin Göring sang Fricka as fantastically as she had once I noticed her in Leipzig a couple of days in the past. The eight visitor singers solid because the Valkyries loved each their singing and appearing their roles.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Featured picture: Oldenburgisches Staatstheater
