Die Walküre, Metropolitan Opera HD, June 1 2011

We had to miss the regular May 14 broadcast of Die Walküre because we were at Spannochia, near Siena, in Tuscany. But we were back in time to catch the encore broadcast. This being the Robert Lepage production, the stage was dominated by the 45-ton “machine,” the one with the 24 rotating planks. Here, the machine was put to the best use yet: during the prelude, Siegmund runs through the trees, represented well enough by planks held vertically or almost vertically so that Siegmund can run in front of some and in back of others. Images of tree trunks were projected on the planks. You wouldn’t confuse them with Seattle’s trees, but it worked. As Siegmund enters the hut (“Ein Quel! Ein Quel!”) all planks but one rotate to form the ceiling of the hut, and a lightly varnished wood color is projected on them. The one that remains vertical is, of course, the ash tree, and there is a sword sticking out of it—a convenient place for Hunding to hang his coat when he arrives. During the episodes in which Siegmund tells his history, some silhouetted figures representing the action (mainly, running one way or the other, or stabbing another figure) are projected. And they ran quickly—very distracting.

In Act 2, there was a stage prop that I had not seen before. The stage directions call for Fricka to arrive in a chariot drawn by two rams. Here, Fricka is seated in a large chair; the front of the armrests are carved in the shape of rams. Since Fricka dominates Wotan in this scene, she and her chair are placed on the planks, above Wotan, who is at stage level. For the second part of Act 2, we are back to the planks-as-trees theme.

The Ride of the Valkyries opens with the Valkyries riding bucking planks (rotating first one way, then the other), and holding reins that are connected to the fronts of the planks. Later the planks serve as a surface on which to project abstract images. When Wotan puts Brünnhilde to sleep, a double is suspended head down from a central, vertical plank.

Our cast:
Siegmund: Jonas Kaufmann
Sieglinde: Eva-Maria Westbroek
Hunding: Hans-Peter König
Wotan: Bryn Terfel
Brünnhilde: Deborah Voigt
Fricka: Stephanie Blythe
Conductor: James Levine
Production: Robert Lepage

The performances were uniformly excellent, but I was particularly struck by:

• Jonas Kaufmann’s cries of “Wälse! Wälse!” This is what it means to be a heldentenor.
• Hans-Peter König’s superb tone as Hunding, although he had the appearance of a kindly grandfather.
• Deborah Voigt’s anguished, dejected entrance for the Annunciation of Death scene. Just in her acting, it was obvious that she was about to do something she really did not want to do.
• Bryn Terfel’s towering rage at the Valkyries in Act 3 Scene 2. Never before have I seen a Wotan so beside himself with anger.
  

A very solid beta—would have been even better without the distractions of the machine.