Bayreuth Festival - Siegfried

Published Friday 29 August 2008 at 17:15 by Penelope Turing

In general Frank Philipp Schlossmann’s set designs for this Ring are good, effective, sometimes beautiful, but in Siegfried, two are mistaken. The first act appears interesting - the entrance hall to a scientific laboratory complete with human skeleton, but it proves no place for forging a sword and results in a muddle despite tremendous singing.

Stephen Gould looks an ideal Siegfried - big, bouncing and bullying - he makes no pretence of a gentler side to Siegfried’s character. Gerhard Siegel is an unusually tough Mime - their scenes together tend to be something of a shouting match, but exciting and amusing. Albert Dohmen’s Wanderer is somewhat overshadowed by the other two. He has not yet fully developed this last section of the Wotan role.

Act II is scenically splendid - bare trees and the span of an apparent flyover bridge. Here the story unfolds with dramatic power from Siegfried, Wanderer, Mime, Alberich and no dragon but a voice - Fatfner.

Finally, the other production fault - the scene where the Wanderer calls up Erda. This is one of the most important in the Ring, but here it is sung by Dohmen and Christa Mayer in front of a blank curtain. A mistake on all counts. For Brunnhilde’s awakening in the ruined castle courtyard Gould finds a fairly convincing, charming diffidence and still splendid voice. Linda Watson’s Brunnhilde is less happy, the voice often sounding forced. But Thielemann’s conducting holds all in glorious Wagner.