When Frank Philipp Schlossmann designed the sets for this Ring. Hunding’s hut for the first scene of Walkure has become a simplified baronial hall, and the famous tree from which Seigmund will draw the magic sword is a felled trunk which has fallen in through a window. But these are matters of no importance. The setting fits the events.
Here the exhausted Seigmund in the person of Endrik Wottrich staggers through another window. He is now much more at ease in this role - not great but acceptable. His Sieglinde is Eva-Maria Westbroek, attractive, passionate but rather shrill in excited moments. The star of this act is Kwangchul Youn as the rough, masterful Hunding.
After this, the second and third acts reveal the essence of the story, and the singers excel. Linda Watson in exceptionally good voice is a powerfully dramatic Brunnhilde, and Albert Dohmen a profoundly moving Wotan, the god with a human heart.
The last act is played in a ruined castle, a very effective setting, the eight valkyries in their scarlet caps and tunics make a vivid moving picture and sing splendidly. As all opera-goers know, there are moments when a good average performance suddenly becomes great one. The last act of the Walkure had that transformation. A Wotan and Brunnhilde to be long remembered.
Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, Germany, July 25-August 28 (performances: July 28, August 8, 21)
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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