Siegfried

The casting of the central role in
Siegfried, a headache for any opera company these days, is a
considerable challenge for a small house like the Cotswolds-based Longborough
Festival Opera.  What a coup if they could not
only cast it but unearth a new tenor who will go on to shine in the role around
the world.  They might just have done that.

American tenor Daniel Brenna
bounds on in Act 1 and bounces around like a chubby schoolboy, showing so much
youthful exuberance that you can’t help wondering if he’ll last the night.  But, apart from showing signs of wear at the very
end of this first performance, he certainly stayed the course. 

The paradox of the role is that the
voice needs maturity, which Brenna’s bright, sweet sound will gain over time
but, in the meantime, how refreshing to have a Siegfried who actually looks as
though he could be Brünnhilde’s nephew rather than her father. 
His acting needs some attention (far too much teenagerish flouncing and
grimacing which fails to convince) but a new, genuinely youthful Siegfried has
arrived and it’s something to be celebrated.

Alan Privett’s production is
strictly functional, beginning with bare scaffolding combined with a burnished disc
which harks back to the industrial setting of Patrice Chereau’s 1976 Bayreuth
cycle.  The forging consists of some generalised
business with a bucket, followed by lots of miming and then Brenna exuding so
much energy bashing the hell out of a scaffold bar that he’d be excused if he took
the rest of the night off and went for a lie down.

The second act can only be
described as semi-staged, with a web of ropes, a couple of rostra tipped over
and a dragon consisting of scaffolding on wheels with material flapping around
for wings.  It very nearly works and
when, to be fair, does Siegfried’s dragon ever quite
convince?  The opening of the final act
is the most pleasing visually, with a raked platform that slides apart to let
out an eerily effective Erda (German soprano Evelyn Krahe).

Philip Joll is a vintage Wotan and
his Wanderer sounds in surprisingly good shape, with strong support among the
lower voices from Nicholas Folwell as Alberich and Julian Close’s Fafner.  Colin Judson is a bright, sharply
characterized and sung Mime and Allison Bell chirps impishly as the Woodbird.  

Alwyn Mellor, so impressive as
Isolde at Grange Park earlier in the season, is a fresh voiced and attractive Brünnhilde. I had
reservations about the ever-present Norns in last year’s Die Walküre, slinking
around moodily in black, and they still seem to add little value beyond their function
as ASMs, hooking, pulling and handing props.

Anthony Negus draws luscious
playing from the orchestra, especially in the love duet, which leaves the
audience as fresh and invigorated at the end of the six hours as at the
beginning.  There are plenty of
challenges ahead for Longborough, with Götterdämmerung next year, and
full cycles in 2013, but for now Siegfried contributes enjoyably to
a somewhat Wagner-lite year.

– Simon Thomas