Reviews

Die Walküre

Three years ago Longborough Festival Opera launched its ambitious Ring cycle with Das Rheingold and it’s taken until now to add the next instalment.  If they’re to achieve their dream of completing the tetralogy by the time of the Wagner bi-centenary in 2013, they have their work cut out.  The whole thing seems so unlikely anyway, they might just do it.

Mounting Wagner’s masterwork in a pocket-sized 480 seat barn in the midst of the Cotswolds has a Fitzcarraldo feel about it in the first place.  Not that this is an ordinary country estate barn; the conversion to a mini Bayreuth is pretty convincing, with an elegant, classical-style foyer and façade tacked on and now a new orchestra pit which burrows under the stage to hide the players from view.

The great benefit is a balance of sound that favours the singers and focuses the attention on the words in a way of which the composer would surely have approved, although some of the singers for Die Walküre take too much advantage of this and the bathroom acoustics to belt out in a way that doesn’t quite have the measure of the house.

Alwyn Mellor’s Brünnhilde and some of her sisters, in particular, could do with pulling back a bit and introducing some vocal subtlety.  It’s Mellor’s first stab at the role (she’s due to reprise it in Seattle in the coming years) and it’s otherwise full of promise.  One awaits her first Isolde at Grange Park next year with anticipation.

Jason Howard’s experienced Wotan (he’s played the part in Strasbourg already) has a better grasp of dynamics.  It’s a youthful interpretation from the Nathan Gunn school of chest-baring and wearing only when his Darth Maul-like spear twiddling gets out of control.

Alison Kettlewell’s Fricka is far from the usual battleaxe, young and pretty, with a telling stepmother moment in her face-to-face encounter with Brunnhilde.  Mark Richardson is a solid Hunding.

The outstanding performances of the evening come from Lee Bisset and Andrew Rees as the twin lovers.  Bisset’s very attractive and slender Sieglinde is brilliantly sung and, while he tires in places, Rees strikes a powerful and heroic Siegmund.

Director Alan Privett and designer Kjell Torriset don’t do themselves any favours by breaking the stage up with a raked platform, which reduces the already tiny space and leads to some cramping. 

Settings are largely traditional (no Bayreuth excesses here) although the one slight indulgence of ever-present Norns, handing protagonists swords and spears and winding their fateful rope on and off a giant cotton reel, adds debatable value.  A little more light could be shed throughout, with the constant gloom suggesting there’s something to hide.
   

The 65-strong orchestra are on excellent form, with a wealth of experience from Goodall acolyte Anthony Negus, who conducts a beautifully shaped account of the demanding score, moving, in contradiction to his great master, at a swift pace.
   

Longborough and its Ring represents the best of English eccentricity.  With such high musical values, it’s so much more.