DAS RHEINGOLD, STOCKHOLM, september 2006

MEDVERKANDE

Wotan: Terje Stenswold 

Donner: Johan Edholm 

Froh: Klas Hedlund 

Loge: Thomas Sunnegårdh 

Alberich: Kettil Hugaas 

Mime: Niklas Björling Rygert 

Fasolt: Hans-Peter König

Fafner: Lennart Forsén 

Fricka: Martina Dike 

Freia: Sara Olsson 

Erda: Anna Larsson 

Woglinde: Hilde Leidland 

Wellgunde: Susann Végh 

Regi: Staffan Valdemar Holm

Kungliga Hovkapellet, Stockholm. 

Dirigent: Gregor Bühl

Kungliga Operan, Stockholm

RECENSIONER

Göran Forsling: Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold at the Royal Opera in Stockholm (Music Web)

Originally Neeme Järvi was scheduled to lead this Ring cycle but he had to withdraw due to failing health and in his place the young German Gregor Bühl sprang in. He is no newcomer to Wagner: in Hannover, where he has been principal conductor since 1996, he has performed most of the operas, including the complete Ring. It was also obvious from the outset that he knew his Wagner. The remarkable prelude, “the birth of minimalism”, with its repeated “wave” motif, was built up from the almost inaudible start towards ever greater intensity, the waters of the Rhine running fiercer and fiercer, and the Royal Orchestra responded willingly. Bühl kept things moving without rushing. A well-balanced reading, full of life.

(...)

Martina Dike, who already has a long list of memorable role assumptions (see review of Don Carlos), was a splendid Fricka, her voice ringing out with magnificent ease and she is a good actor. As Freia Sara Olsson didn’t have much to sing but what little there was she did well and she acted movingly. Erda’s part is even smaller, but her “aria” Weiche, Wotan, weiche is on the other hand one of the sublime moments and Anna Larsson’s deep warm contralto was perfectly suited to it, just as artlessly affecting as when she sang the same part in a concert performance of Rheingold at the Stockholm Concert Hall a couple of years ago.

(...)

In the men’s department, the diminutive Klas Hedlund drew a finely etched Froh and his unforced lyrical tenor is always a joy to listen to, while Johan Edholm personified the choleric Donner with biting intensity. Thomas Sunnegårdh, excellent actor, found the right scheming tone for Loge, a part he has sung for many years around the world, his voice still in fine fettle. Fafner and Fasolt, bear-like in their brown costumes and with long hair and beard, were magnificently sung by Lennart Forsén and Hans-Peter König, the former with a roundness and beauty of tone that almost conflicted with the evil, while König has the most tremendously gigantic bass-voice one can ever expect to hear.

The black forces in Nibelheim were also well taken care of. Ketil Hugaas, the buffo bass par preference in Stockholm at the moment, adopted all his considerable skill to give a many-sided portrait of Alberich. A good actor with many colours in his not exactly beautiful but expressive voice. And young Niklas Björling Rygert, who is quickly claiming the role as the leading character tenor, was a perfect Mime, younger looking and younger sounding than most and a lithe actor.

On top of this Norwegian guest Terje Stensvold was a well-nigh ideal Wotan, physically imposing but showing all the different sides of Wotan’s many-faceted character. He sang with firm tone, blacker than most baritones, which is right for Wotan, but with impressively gleaming high notes – and he had a wonderful legato. Far from the speech-singing all to often heard in the role, this was a bel canto Wotan. 

(...)

Sofia Nyblom: Rhenguldet (SvD)

Loges gnistor ger glans åt Hovkapellet, som dirigenten Gregor Bühl leder i en romantiskt sprittande tolkning av Wagners Rhenguldet. Bente Lykke Møllers scenbilder skimrar löftesrikt, särskilt öppningen där tre krinolinklädda sjöjungfrur förstrött åser hur skolpojken Alberich stjäl sagans guldboll och försvinner ner i mattan i kvällens enda teatertrick. 

(...)

Ketil Hugaas Alberich förblir en skurkkliché, stämman trist nyansfri när han förbannar Ringens makt....

(...)

I finalen sätter Thomas Sunnegårdhs finurlige Loge fyr på härligheten, drömmen om romantiken smälter i regnbågsdiset. Men sagoberättaren får gärna släppa loss leklustan inför nästa byggsten i det allkonstverk som är Nibelungens ring - först när man tror på sagan, kan den bli riktigt kuslig.

(...)

DIE WALKÜRE, STOCKHOLM, februari 2006

MEDVERKANDE

Wotan: Terje Stensvold

Fricka: Martina Dike

Siegmund: Endrich Wottrich († )

Sieglinde: Nina Stemme

Hunding: Hans-Peter König

Brünnhilde: Katarina Dalayman

Regi: Staffan Valdemar Holm

Kungliga Hovkapellet, Stockholm. 

Dirigent: Gregor Bühl

Kungliga Operan, Stockholm

RECENSIONER

Sofia Nyblom: Nina Stemme förgyller Valkyrian (SvD)

Tonvikten läggs i stället på detaljerat psykologiskt spel, som Nina Stemmes sorgliga Sieglinde, Terje Stensvolds konfliktfyllda Wotan, Katarina Dalaymans naiva Brynhilde och Martina Dikes manipulativa Fricka behärskar mästerligt i de konfrontationer som leder handlingen framåt i Valkyrian, medan Endrich Wottrichs muskulöse Siegmund trots vacker klang känns stel och oförlöst. Överlag är Valkyrian besatt med skönsjungande skådespelare, vilkas

dramatiska spets borgar för en sensationell operaupplevelse.(...)

Men den är också Wotans, Terje Stensvolds föreställning, den plågade familjefadern som det stormar om. Bara ett kort ögonblick får vi se honom njuta av den frigjorda favoritdottern Brynhildes (Katarina Dalaymans) lek med ridpiskan och tonerna, för att sedan vila i sin dotters knä och viskande bekänna sina hemligheter och bottenlösa sorg.

Hustrun Fricka (magnifika Martina Dike) låter sig inte längre förföras av sin notoriskt otrogne make, men övertygar honom i stället honom med principer som kostar Siegmund livet. Med Wotans entré börjar Valkyrian också bli stor teater. 

Stensvolds kärva röst har ett rikt, personligt färgspektrum, och Wotans bekännelse blir i hans tolkning en medelålders man abdikering från kontrollen över sitt eget öde. Och i Wotans lya, inredd med en protofascistisk tavelsamling som vittnar om att slakt och strid blivit hans enda livsmål, finns symboliskt nog bara biljardbordet att vila på.

Till sist är Valkyrian förstås Brynhildes, Katarina Dalaymans berättelse - en yster flicka, motsatsen till sin kuvade syster. Hennes nerviga Brynhilde utvecklas från att robotlikt lyda sin far, till att snärjas av sin medkänsla för syskonparet och välja den fria viljan. (...)

Göran Forsling: Richard WAGNER, Die Walküre at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, 17.3.2006 (Music Web)

Gregor Bühl’s conducting is efficient enough, but it lacks the last ounce of passion and surge in this first act. He is more successful in the remaining acts. The singing, on the other hand, is excellent. It is good for once to hear a real Wagnerian hero, confidently sung with power and baritonal darkness, steady tone and a great deal of expression. Endrik Wottrich may not have the romantic glow of Siegfried Jerusalem in his heyday but it is an admirable achievement, so much more since he obviously wasn’t at his best. Before the second act it was announced that he was indisposed but would still carry through the performance. Hans-Peter König’s enormous black bass, which I have commented on before, rock-steady and thunderous, combined with his imposing figure, makes him a frightening Hunding, and Nina Stemme is Sieglinde. A lot has been written about her lately and she lives up to the superlatives that have been heaped upon her. Scenically she is lovely with total identification and she sings with such inward intensity that every phrase seems to come from her heart. She is a master of nuances and when she lets go at full gear in Du bist der Lenz she surpasses anything I’ve heard live and practically anything I’ve heard on records. Strong words, I know, but such warmth, such power, such beauty!

(...)

Terje Stensvold made a deep impression as Wotan in Das Rheingold in September. He impresses even more here, expressing all the different facets of Wotan’s character: his pride, his pretensions, his anger, his indecisiveness. Vocally he is superb. He has an ideal Wotan voice, a true bass-baritone with lots of power, not a hint of unsteadiness or widened vibrato and an impressive stamina. In the final scene of act III his love and care for Brünnhilde is deeply moving, singing the weakest of pianissimos with great beauty. Katarina Dalayman’s Brünnhilde, dressed in black and white, like the other Valkyries, is also a lively actor with strong charisma. Her voice is actually a size smaller than Stemme’s and also brighter, somewhat on the lyrical side but she rips off the fearsome “hojotohos” confidently and impressively, although without quite the larger-than-life explosiveness of a real “Hoch-dramatisch” soprano. 

ANDRA LÄNKAR

DIE WALKÜRE, STOCKHOLM, februari 2006

JOEL BERGLUND (1903-1985), baryton

Joel Berglund

Biografi

Utmärkelser

Diskografi

Operaclass.com

Opera Depot

House ofOpera

PremiereOpera

Audio/Video

Tannhäuser: Oh du mein holder Abendstern

Tannhäuser: Blick ich umherr

Der fliegende Holländer: Die Frist ist um

Der fliegende Holländer: (Krauss-Müller-Hofmann-Völker-Zimmermann-Bayreuth 1942)

Die Walküre: Leb wohl, du kuhnes herrliches Kind

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn"

Du gamla, du fria (Svenska nationalsången)