The larger the opera, the bigger its chapter of potential accidents. English National Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, building up over several seasons, is its biggest effort in years, and for the initial unveiling of The Valkyrie glitches abounded. Two crucial cast members had colds, while health and safety concerns with Westminster Council stamped out the fire for the final scene. Intermittent ignition proved, indeed, a recurring theme.
For Wagner’s vast drama about the downfall of power through dodgy contracts, moral turpitude and the ultimate vulnerability of gods and monsters, director Richard Jones and designer Stewart Laing have created – what else – a downbeat post-apocalyptic setting: a world of barren trees and black snow. The immortal Wotan, who in the original German craves “das Ende”, in John Deathridge’s new translation envisages “extinction”.
This would all be fine, were misfirings not so plentiful. Just two examples are a frenetic dancing figure thumping about in the “Ride of the Valkyries”, and Wotan spending half the “Magic Fire Music” hooking the comatose Brünnhilde into a hoistable harness. I’m starting to miss semi-staged concerts.
Enough of that, because the cast is terrific. The true spark came from Matthew Rose’s Wotan and Rachel Nicholls’s Brünnhilde. Debuting in a role he seems born to sing, Rose matched forceful presence with a voice that ranged from molten lava to towering granite-edged peaks. Nicholls, an experienced Brünnhilde, became the perfect rebellious teenager.
The ill-fated twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, Nicky Spence and Emma Bell, never totally matched up; Wagner’s ecstatic love music plodded, though perhaps Spence’s cold was responsible. Brindley Sherratt was magnificent as Sieglinde’s husband, Hunding, who made eating from a tin a terrifying signal of murderous intent.
Susan Bickley as Fricka had a cold too and walked her crucial humiliation of Wotan; a real superhero, mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones, sang it from the side with effortless conviction, before resuming her official role as a Valkyrie. In the famous “Ride”, she and her seven sisters – luxurious casting including Nadine Benjamin, Fleur Barron and more – finally raised a roof that had sometimes threatened to stay put.
The ENO Orchestra were mainly strong, with music director Martyn Brabbins a sensitive and supportive accompanist to his singers. Here’s hoping that fire will soon be restored to stage and belly alike.
To 10 December (eno.org)