Ragnarök, Stockholm, maj 2017 (Markus Gårder)
MEDVERKANDE
Siegfried – Lars Cleveman
Brünnhilde – Nina Stemme
Waltraute – Katarina Dalayman
Hagen – Falk Struckmann
Gunter – Ola Eliasson
Gutrune – Sara Olsson
Alberich – Johan Edholm
Första nornan – Katarina Leoson
Andra nornan – Susann Végh
Tredje nornan – Angela Rotondo
Woglinde – Vivianne Holmberg
Wellgunde – Susann Végh
Flosshilde – Johanna Rudström
Kungliga hovkapellet.
Dirigent: Marko Letonja.
Regi: Staffan Valdemar Holm.
Kungliga operan, Stockholm.
RECENSIONER
(...) Ragnarök: the Swedish title for Götterdämmerung resonates with Old Norse folk memories of universal inundation and overthow of the order of the gods. In Staffan Valdemar Holm's production, Wagner's mythic Der Ring des Nibelungen is set roughly in the period of its first Swedish performances, its imagery refracted through a 19th-century prism.
(...) Their half-brother Hagen, in contrast, domineers in a performance of brutish massiveness by the gritty, baleful bass of Falk Struckmann, the only non-Swedish member of this entire Ring cast. Seemingly taking the production into his own hands, he stamps rhythmically and actually conducts the Gibichung vassals, stirring them into a semblance of war-like aggression, though, sober-suited and wearing Homburg hats, they resemble an assembly of family solicitors. Instead of hurtling towards an oath driven conclusion,
(...) Katarina Dalayman as Waltraute employs her refulgent mezzo to urgent declamatory effect. Lars Cleveman's forthright, uncomprehending Siegfried hits every note with blade like thrust, only in his death was a sense of pathos and awareness missing. His untiring resilience is remarkable testament to his technique considering that he sang in the 1980s as a young Gibichung auxillary chorus member. John Edholm's black-voiced Alberich lacked a sense of disembodiment implicit in his brief dream-like scene with Hagen.
The peak and summation of The Ring Cycle is reached in Brünnhilde's Immolation and it is here that Nina Stemme sensationally binds the strands, like the ropes of fate, into a mighty ending, with the all-surmounting vocal amplitude and expressivity she has harnessed throughout, whether in ecstastic love, raging scorn, defiance and sadness. Without the metallic incisiveness of some Scandinavian dramatic sopranos, her unstinting power and generosity is tempered by the integrated warmth and depth of her chest tones. Hurling out the great oaths of Act 2, “Heilige Götter, himmlischer Lenker”, Stemme's Brünnhilde prowls the stage like a tigress, her blazing eyes cowering all.
(...) Stemme, dressed simply in black, sings a fiery, transcendent Immolation as flames, flood and the Rhinemaidens flicker on the screen. The Valhalla motif wells up in the orchestra and Wotan's tear-streamed face is beheld as Brünnhilde sings her moving benediction, “Ruhe, du Gott”. His eyes dim and close as the last reel runs out to a white screen, and Brünnhilde advances serenely towards the front of the stage as the final bars fade away.
The conducting and playing under Marko Letonja, scaled new heights in this conclusion to The Ring. The quite reverberant acoustic favoured a bass heavy saturated sound, yet Latonja achieved thematic clarity and a grasp of the long structure, particularly in a staggering Funeral March, which flowed seamlessly through to the final diminuendo. (...)
I Staffan Valdemar Holms knappt tio år gamla uppsättning av den sista delen av "Nibelungens ring", "Ragnarök", kretsar mycket kring dramats mest lovande kärlekspar - sopranen Nina Stemmes Brünnhilde och tenoren Lars Clevemans Siegfried.
Siegfried har gett Brünnhilde en kärleksgåva i form av den ring som har makt att skänka sin ägare världsherraväldet.
Inte ens när hennes valkyriesyster Waltraute (Katarina Dalayman) vädjar och varnar för dess förstörande kraft, vill Brünnhilde släppa ifrån sig den.
(...) en som konspirerar mest i jakten på ringen - och som senare också dödar Siegfried - är Hagen som spelas av den suveräne basen Falk Struckmann.
Struckmann är stundtals en riktig showman, inte minst som självklar ledare för ett något överförfriskat jaktlag i ett av Wagners mäktigaste körverk.
En annan musikalisk höjdpunkt är Siegfrieds legendariska sorgmarsch där Hovkapellet, under ledning av Marko Letonja, understryker den ödesmättade tyngden i hjälten Siegfrieds död.
På duken i scenografen Bente Lykke Møllers biografscener projiceras stumfilmsåterblickar från Ringens tidigare delar. Allt som hänt, alla svek, bildar sedan fonden till slutscenen där Brünnhilde låter allt förstöras i lågor trots att hon återlämnar ringen till floden Rhens botten.(...)
AUDIO
