<<  -- 6 --  Robert Hugill    VITAL PERFORMANCE

Bryn Terfel's Wotan was familiar from the first opera in the cycle, but his interpretation has deepened and became more thoughtful. Wotan's long monologue in Act 2 is a challenge to all concerned and Terfel performed with an attention to the detail of body language which reflected in the care he took over the vocal line. But he never forgot the overall shape of the long, Wagnerian paragraphs, so the scene had shape and movement. It helps that Terfel can (and does) sing quietly. With Pappano's support with the orchestra, this means that Terfel projects Wotan with enormous subtlety. Only in the middle of Act 3 did I wonder whether inexperience showed a little. Here again, Pappano and Terfel gave us a beautifully detailed performance, but it seemed to sag a little in the middle; they have not yet got the overall structure of this Act.

Terfel's Wotan is very human in this production and it will be interesting to see how his view of the role develops as he sings in other Ring cycles. He and Lisa Gasteen's Brünnhilde developed a very believable and jokey relationship at the opening of Act 3, which made the descent into seriousness and confusion all the more real and believable. Gasteen's Brünnhilde starts out a very jolly hockey sticks sort of girl (or at least the Australian version of this). Gasteen, despite her robust size, is a very physical performer and you can easily believe Brünnhilde going out and leaping on her horse -- something that is not true of every Brünnhilde I have seen.

Gasteen's voice has a lovely steely gleam to it which means that it seems to rise over the orchestra effortlessly. Hers is not the sort of performance where the effort of achieving the music become part of the performance, she makes you forget any effort and concentrate on the glorious texture and sound of her voice. It is only at the very top that she slightly lets herself down, as her voice loses some of its focus here. That said, her opening Hojotohos were glorious. Like Terfel, Gasteen is quite a detailed performer and the two of them developed a wonderfully believable, stormy father and daughter relationship.

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