For the first time in its 45-year history, The Atlanta Opera presents a complete Ring Cycle, with the debut of a new installment each season. The undertaking represents a milestone not just for the Southern company, but for American opera at the moment: it is the first new cycle to premiere after the pandemic, a signal that grand opera still has a place amid mounting industry-wide financial austerity. Seen at the second of four performances, this season’s entry, Die Walküre, offered high musical values and piquant performances, which compensated for the production’s old-fashioned and occasionally silly theatricality.
The staging by company artistic director Tomer Zvulun breaks no new ground, though it merits some commendation for its lucid storytelling, making it an ideal complement for first-timers. Seasoned Wagnerians might feel, however, as if they’ve stepped several decades back in time. Hulking pictorial sets by Erhard Rom dominate the stage, placing the action in a vaguely medieval realm, and costume designer Mattie Ullrich supplies outfits that run the gamut from flowing Grecian dresses (for Sieglinde and Brünnhilde) to stately modern evening wear (for Fricka, who looks here like a haughty society wife). Some elements are striking on their own terms, like the stone-walled library that represents Valhalla and Robert Wierzel’s smoky, atmospheric lighting. Yet the action is overwhelmed by a series of cheesy projections (also by Rom), and the viewer comes away keenly aware of the lack of subtext or subtlety on display.
Zvulun succeeds, though, in obtaining gripping dramatic performances from his talented cast. It helps that the production is anchored by a pair of American Wagner veterans. Greer Grimsley brought the weight of authority to Wotan, and if the timbre of his still-secure bass-baritone has faded a touch in color, the slightly leaner, paler sound seemed appropriate to convey the character’s growing disgust with the world. Grimsley brought a full range of emotions to his characterization, believably charting the evolution from Brünnhilde’s doting father to sworn enemy, before settling into the rueful final moments as he bids his daughter goodbye forever. He brought a wrenching anguish and self-loathing to Wotan’s second-act monologue, culminating in a chilling cry of “Das ende!” – followed by a repeat that brought it down to a world-weary whisper.
Wendy Bryn Harmer, a practiced Wagnerian in her own right, was slated to make her role debut as Brünnhilde in these performances. When she withdrew due to illness in rehearsals, the company called upon the most luxurious of replacements: Christine Goerke, one of the role’s premier living interpreters. Judging by her deeply felt and fully committed interpretation, no one could have imagined that she wasn’t involved from day one. Her voice, an even column of gleaming sound from top to bottom, rang out above the heavy orchestrations, and she never tired throughout the long evening, perhaps even gaining in her final confrontation with Wotan. Hers was a Brünnhilde blinded by her own pride of place as her father’s prized daughter, who grew up harrowingly fast when she realized her favored days had come to an end. Still, she remained tender and loving in her interactions with Wotan, even as she accepted her fate.
Viktor Antipenko brought an attractive and heroic tenor to Siegmund, and Laura Wilde made for a youthful, lyrical Sieglinde. They demonstrated palpable chemistry, though the final moments of Act 1, which found them in flagrante on the dining room table, skirted the boundaries of good taste. The physically imposing and vocally sturdy Raymond Aceto was a gleefully merciless Hunding, but some of the stage business assigned to him came close to comedic villainy.
Gretchen Krupp brought a bright, fruity mezzo to Fricka. The visible age difference between her and Grimsley added an intriguing dimension to Wotan and Fricka’s relationship, and Krupp’s bearing throughout her scene was imperious and commanding. The eight Valkyrie sisters were uniformly cast from strength, although Deborah Nansteel’s arresting Roßweisse stood out. Surely she is a Fricka in the making.
Conductor Arthur Fagen favored a style more crisp and arresting than awash in Romantic sweep. This approach highlighted the dramatic thrust of the music, especially in the taut Ride of the Valkyries and the introductory passages of Act 1, which emerged pregnant with foreboding danger. Occasionally he pushed the brass too far – they overwhelmed in the postlude to Wotan’s Farewell – but overall, it was a lucid and well judged reading of the score.
At a time of budget cuts and production cancellations, The Atlanta Opera should be celebrated for committing to this costly and worthwhile undertaking. I do hope that by the time Siegfried comes around next season, the dramatic virtues will have caught up to the musical ones.
Cameron's press trip was funded by Atlanta Opera.
