Das Rheingold ROH

[oncnp]

Opening night reviews.....(both pay-walled)

 

Das Rheingold, Royal Opera House: brutal, naked power (telegraph.co.uk)

 

Das Rheingold review — fatalistic, nude, mute Earth goddess steals the show (thetimes.co.uk)

[MAB]

There seems to be almost a glut of Rheingolds in London at the moment as I've seen three in less than a year.  This newest one I found vastly inferior in concept compared with the ENO production I saw in March.  I've just read the reviews and they were positive.  My Wagnerian friends however were divided on its merits.  For my own part I found the sight of an emaciated naked octogenarian disquieting and in its own way exploitative.

 

The production looked expensive and you have to wonder why, during a time of austerity, the ROH saw fit to ditch the very good Ring it already has.

[alison]

That is a question I have asked myself in relation to various productions numerous times over the years, austerity or no.

[alison]

Since MAB has started this thread - thanks - I've moved oncnp's links into it.

[Geoff]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

The production looked expensive and you have to wonder why, during a time of austerity, the ROH saw fit to ditch the very good Ring it already has.

 
Speaking personally I did not think the last ROH Ring was “very good”, more like a show maybe worth seeing once only. So I am relieved that production is being replaced. Seeing this new show on Sunday. 

[Lizbie1]

The set for the last production appeared to be falling apart before my eyes during its final cycle: sitting in one of the cheap seats I had a good view things not visible to the rest of the audience. They probably had to make the decision whether to rebuild it or start again and I don't recall that the last production was much loved by the audience. My own view was that it contained a long list of opera cliches (Goth costumes, oversized furniture, etc etc) though perhaps the Kosky ring isn't any better in that respect. I'm not going this time - not interested enough in the cast.

 

I enjoyed the ENO Rheingold a lot - much better than the Walkure promised! - and I thought the cast was excellent.

[JohnS]

I very much enjoyed yesterday evening’s Das Rheingold. I hadn’t seen the cinema relay so the production was completely fresh to me, apart from reading a handful of reviews. It makes a very strong impression, gripping throughout, funny in places, and appropriately brutal when necessary: if I ever see a polo stick again I’ll think of Fafner and poor Fasolt. The Rheingold ‘milking’ machine was pretty gross but I thought captured the awfulness of the Nibelungs and the abuse of nature. Even grosser when Alberich started licking his fingers coated in gold/(custard?) but that in turn was outdone by Freia’s submergence in the gold: I hope Kiandra Howarth doesn’t become typecast for such treatment. I wasn’t quite sure about the glitter rainbow - rainbow colours might have helped. But I like the notion of Valhalla being little more than vast quantities of glitter. I wish there’d been a way to change the scenes without bringing down the house curtain which just seemed too incongruous. A black cloth would have been better if a curtain had to be lowered but with the Ash tree remaining in place for most of the opera and working so well in its different guises through decoration, I’d have hoped there would be a way not to have lowered a curtain. Fabulous singing, excellent diction and surtitles, and the ROH orchestra under Tony Pappano at its finest. Here’s looking forward to the next instalment.

[JohnS]

I see Rheingold is on Radio 3 this Saturday 6:30 pm and then BBC Sounds. Fabulously played and sung so well worth hearing but I do hope it’s added to the ROH Stream at some point as the production is so strong.