Although Die Walkure is perhaps the most accessible of the Ring Cycle, Siegfried has always been my personal favourite with some of the more beautiful music of the Cycle, Forest Murmur for example. I very much enjoyed this production from Copenhagen, while not the best Siegfried for me(the 1993 Bayreuth production with Barenboim conducting) it is far better than the 2003 Stuttgart performance, which I found irritating above all else. I also consider it the best of the Copenhagen Ring productions, the cast is much more consistent, the drama in general is much more focused and of the four productions this is the one with the best done scene.
Is it perfect? No not quite. The orchestra does occasionally drown out the singers, who aren't as transferred as expertly in the sound quality in comparison. This was especially disappointing seeing as Die Walkure, which was the production that fared least from Copenhagen from a dramatic standpoint also happened to be the one with the best sound. The other is the video directing, while an improvement on Das Rheingold it still has too many close-ups and not all of them are very focused.
However, visually I was very surprised. The production values could've been a disaster, I actually dreaded idea of Siegfried and Mime living in a suburban house, but they actually worked within the concept. And the staging was interesting and proved to be among the most compelling moments of the four Copenhagen productions. The idea to reveal an underground cave when the stage rose was a very good one that worked really well both visually and dramatically. As I said earlier, this Siegfried contains my single favourite moment of the Copenhagen Ring, the scene between Wotan/Wanderer and Erda. Set in a nursing home with Erda decaying, it is unforgettably moving.
Although the sound quality is not very balanced, the orchestral playing is really fantastic, the brass are especially stirring in their many forceful moments in Siegfried's(and Gotterdammerung's) score. The conducting is mostly alert and not too passive, especially in the Act 3 prelude. The performances are of a very high standard. Stig Andersen is a superb Siegfried, giving his best performance of the three productions(he was Siegmund also in Walkure), singing with a strong clear voice without resorting to stridency or bellowing and acting with intensity and heroism. His scenes with Bengt-Ola Morgay's Mime are beautifully blended and far more convincing than with the Sieglinde of Gitta-Maria Sjoberg in Walkure, his forging of Notung is one of the more exciting renditions of the scene I've heard recently and his big scene with Irene Theorin soars in the best way possible.
Morgay is a suitably nasty and small-minded Mime, and Theorin's Brunnhilde is vocally and dramatically powerful. James Johnson's Wotan/Wanderer manages to be noble and eloquent as well as cynical and ironic, and while not large his voice is expressive and at least appealing on the ears. I thought in Walkure that Johnson was better than Johan Reuter in Rheingold(beautiful singing but dramatically unconvincing) and after seeing him here I still stand by that decision. Christian Christianssen is not the most sinister Fafner I've heard(Matti Salminen in the 1990 Met production) but he is still very effective in the role. Speaking of Fafner, I was also worrying whether his design would be a disaster like the one in the recent Metropolitan Opera:Live in HD production, but while grotesque in design it fits with the character.
Sten Byriel's Alberich is positively skin-crawling and he is much more assured vocally than in his first scene in Das Rheingold. Susanne Resmark is warning and very touching as Erda, she was a major reason as to why the scene between her and Johnson struck such an emotional chord with me. Overall, of the Copenhagen Ring, this Siegfried was my personal favourite. While Gotterdammerung was perhaps even better musically, the sense of drama, the amount of compelling staging and the level of consistency in the performances was at its best in Siegfried. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Is it perfect? No not quite. The orchestra does occasionally drown out the singers, who aren't as transferred as expertly in the sound quality in comparison. This was especially disappointing seeing as Die Walkure, which was the production that fared least from Copenhagen from a dramatic standpoint also happened to be the one with the best sound. The other is the video directing, while an improvement on Das Rheingold it still has too many close-ups and not all of them are very focused.
However, visually I was very surprised. The production values could've been a disaster, I actually dreaded idea of Siegfried and Mime living in a suburban house, but they actually worked within the concept. And the staging was interesting and proved to be among the most compelling moments of the four Copenhagen productions. The idea to reveal an underground cave when the stage rose was a very good one that worked really well both visually and dramatically. As I said earlier, this Siegfried contains my single favourite moment of the Copenhagen Ring, the scene between Wotan/Wanderer and Erda. Set in a nursing home with Erda decaying, it is unforgettably moving.
Although the sound quality is not very balanced, the orchestral playing is really fantastic, the brass are especially stirring in their many forceful moments in Siegfried's(and Gotterdammerung's) score. The conducting is mostly alert and not too passive, especially in the Act 3 prelude. The performances are of a very high standard. Stig Andersen is a superb Siegfried, giving his best performance of the three productions(he was Siegmund also in Walkure), singing with a strong clear voice without resorting to stridency or bellowing and acting with intensity and heroism. His scenes with Bengt-Ola Morgay's Mime are beautifully blended and far more convincing than with the Sieglinde of Gitta-Maria Sjoberg in Walkure, his forging of Notung is one of the more exciting renditions of the scene I've heard recently and his big scene with Irene Theorin soars in the best way possible.
Morgay is a suitably nasty and small-minded Mime, and Theorin's Brunnhilde is vocally and dramatically powerful. James Johnson's Wotan/Wanderer manages to be noble and eloquent as well as cynical and ironic, and while not large his voice is expressive and at least appealing on the ears. I thought in Walkure that Johnson was better than Johan Reuter in Rheingold(beautiful singing but dramatically unconvincing) and after seeing him here I still stand by that decision. Christian Christianssen is not the most sinister Fafner I've heard(Matti Salminen in the 1990 Met production) but he is still very effective in the role. Speaking of Fafner, I was also worrying whether his design would be a disaster like the one in the recent Metropolitan Opera:Live in HD production, but while grotesque in design it fits with the character.
Sten Byriel's Alberich is positively skin-crawling and he is much more assured vocally than in his first scene in Das Rheingold. Susanne Resmark is warning and very touching as Erda, she was a major reason as to why the scene between her and Johnson struck such an emotional chord with me. Overall, of the Copenhagen Ring, this Siegfried was my personal favourite. While Gotterdammerung was perhaps even better musically, the sense of drama, the amount of compelling staging and the level of consistency in the performances was at its best in Siegfried. 8/10 Bethany Cox
