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German maestro Thielemann steals show in Bayreuth's 'Rheingold'
2007-07-28
The 96th Bayreuth Festival continued here with the first revival of Tankred Dorst's much-derided production of Richard Wagner's massive four-part "Ring" cycle. German star conductor Christian Thielemann, long seen as the Bayreuther Festspiele's secret GMD (general music director), received standing ovations at the end of the first instalment of the tetralogy, "Das Rheingold" (The Rhinegold). It is set to continue Saturday, with the second part, "Die Walkuere" (The Valkyrie). Thielemann's slow and extensive reading of the score may be too self-indulgent for some, but he undeniably gives the music ample time and space to breathe. And he was an alert and sensitive accompanist to the singers, never drowning them out or forcing them to strain to make themselves heard above the wash of orchestral sound. In fact, the cast of 14 singers was admirable and solid all round, even for the rather middling standards that seem to have established themselves in Bayreuth in recent years. The singers received enthusiastic applause at the end of the two-and-a-half-hour evening. Dorst's main premise for the "Ring" is as striking as it is simple: that the gods and mankind live in parallel worlds, with neither side aware of the existence of the other. Thus, ordinary human beings wander across the stage throughout the evening -- a stray tourist in Scene II and a power station employee in Scene III and skate-boarding children in the fourth and final scene -- while the gods debate their fate in the wake of Alberich's theft of the Rhinegold and of the ring. But Dorst, 81, best-known in Germany as a theatre director and playwright, does not explore the idea any further. His inexperience in opera -- the "Ring" is his first-ever foray into music theatre -- is all too evident in the absence of any cogent direction of the figures on stage, who are very much left to their own devices. Thielemann's conducting similarly lacks any real tension or excitement, so that the two-and-half-hour evening seems to drag on for much longer than necessary. Among the singers, only British baritone Andrew Shore as the evil Alberich, and German tenor Gerhard Siegel as Alberich's put-upon half-brother Mime really stood out. The remainder of the cast, including German bass-baritone Albert Dohmen, making his debut as the father-god Wotan, were no better than might be found at any respectable provincial German opera house. The 2007 Bayreuth Festival is set to continue on Saturday, with the next instalment of the four-part Ring, "Die Walkuere" (The Valkyrie).
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