CityLife

Götterdämmerung

By Robert Beale

IF Sir Mark Elder needed any confirmation that his recent decision to stay with the Hallé at least until 2015 was the right one, it came with the performances he conducted at the weekend.

At the close of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung – given in concert, complete, over two evenings – the cast, orchestra and maestro enjoyed a 15-minute standing ovation from virtually every soul in a packed Bridgewater Hall. I have witnessed few receptions like it.

It was a huge achievement, and not just for the quality of the soloists, chorus and presentation.

The Hallé sounds superb in Wagner today: the tenderness in its playing was awesome in Waltraute’s monologue in Act One and Brünnhilde’s lament in Act Two (only the previous dawn sequence suffered a little in intonation, though its crescendo was still effective); Siegfried’s funeral march proved a spectacular sonic showpiece, and the final pages of the score shone with an effulgence that matched anything one might picture in the mind’s eye as Rhine bursts its banks and flames engulf Valhalla.

The original Ring myth is a powerful one – even to a post-Tolkien generation – but maybe today we can enjoy the glory of Wagner’s music more for its own sake than ever before. It certainly felt like it.

The chorus was taken seriously here, with well over 100 male voices (plus a good number of ladies) from the Hallé Choir, the BBC Symphony Chorus, the London Symphony Chorus, the Royal Opera Chorus and its Extra Chorus.

But I have to confess that it was the efforts of the solo singers that really knocked me for six. The successive roars when they took their bows showed that was a common thought.

Stay long in the memory

Katarina Dalayman’s Brünnhilde will stay long in the memory. Her voice has everything this most virtuosic role can demand, with a golden beauty in its tone, but it was her living of its emotions, even in the limited surroundings of a concert, that brought it to perfection.

Attila Jun, the big Korean who sang Hagen, was a hit with the crowd – and deservedly so, for his voice is a cavernous bass and his delivery alive with character.

Nonetheless, for a vivid incarnation of malevolence you could not beat Andrew Shore’s appearance as Alberich: a great performer using his extraordinary skill.

He wasn’t the only one in a ‘small’ role to make a huge impact. The same was true of Susan Bickley as Waltraute, in that pivotal narration in Act One.

But back to the big ones. Lars Cleveman is not your conventional Heldentenor physically, but he is a superb singer and brings a dimension to Siegfried which is worth the encounter – making him the self-centred spoilt brat which the story (I think) demands. Some hero.

Peter Coleman-Wright and Nancy Gustafson (Gunther and Gutrune) were spot-on casting, and each gave the impression of enjoying their task.

One could go on: the three Norns were Ceri Williams, Yvonne Howard and Miranda Keys; the Rhinemaidens were Katherine Broderick, Madeleine Shaw and Leah-Marian Jones. Every one of these singers is a considerable soloist in their own right.

There were orchestral extras of brilliance, too – I’m thinking of Richard Watkins leading the off-stage horns.

But in the end it was Sir Mark’s show: he’s a man of the theatre at heart, and ensured there were constant touches of ingenuity to bring the theatricality of Wagner to the fore.
 

Reviewed: Mon, 11 May, 2009

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