Götterdämmerung, Metropolitan Opera HD Live, Feb. 11 2012

The Robert Lepage/La Machine Ring cycle concluded with a superb performance of Götterdämmerung. The first question to present itself, as it has for each of the previous operas in the cycle, is “What did they do with La Machine?” In case you are joining late, “La Machine” is an array of 24 2-foot wide planks, something like 24 closely-packed see-saws; each plank can rotate, independently of the others, through a full 360°. The performance takes place in front of, on, and occasionally underneath La Machine. The entire construction weighs 45 tons, so it is onstage all the time.

In contrast to Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, the first two operas of the cycle in which La Machine was distracting in its excessive amount of motion, in Götterdämmerung it tended to take a shape and then stay put while images were projected onto it. Because it is so easy to move the planks, and so easy to show new projections, a lot more happened with the “scenery” than in more traditional production—so much that it’s easy to forget the details of each scene. But the following stand out in my memory as being particularly effective. In Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, all but the four center planks were held still, while the four gently tilted back and forth, with Siegfried holding the bridle of a full-sized mechanical horse—a very apt depiction of a boat (or raft) being buffeted by the waves. The Hall of the Gibichungs was nicely represented by a few widely-space blanks held in a vertical position to be the support columns, and the remainder tilted slightly above horizontal to be the ceiling. For Siegfried’s scene with the Rhinemaidens, he stood and sat on a set of planks held slightly below horizontal, while the Rhinemaidens cavorted on their planks at a much steeper angle. They would climb up the planks and sit in one spot (presumably aided by shoes and a sit-upon made with high-friction rubber), then turn to one side and slide back down to the stage. All the while, an image of a rushing river was projected on the Rhinemaiden’s planks, with two large rocks jutting out of the river. The Rhinemaidens would sit on the rocks, presumably so that images of rushing water would not be projected on their faces.

Siegfried’s death scene was the occasion for a great use of the projections. In the transition from the scene with the Rhinemaidens to the scene with the hunting party, the planks and the rushing river stayed as they were. But after Hagen killed Siegfried, Gunther held his body, and got blood on his hands. He climbed up the left bank of the “river” and washed his hands in it. A little bit of the river turned red ... and by the end of the scene, the entire river was stained red.

Although La Machine made for a very non-traditional production, the Immolation Scene was the most true to the stage directions that I have seen. They built a funeral pyre by stacking logs at 90° angles to each other, half a dozen layers high, laid the body on top of the pyre, and then burned it with red lights and stage fog. Not the conflagration (with real fire!) that Seattle Opera did many years ago, but far superior to the recent San Francisco production, where Siegfried’s body was unceremoniously dumped from a cart at the back of the stage, perhaps into the Rhine. And here, Brünnhilde mounted the mechanical horse, which was guided slowly next to the funeral pyre as the planks rotated to vertical to hide it—and to present a surface on which the Rhine overflowed and the world burned up. In the last several seconds, what we saw were the planks held vertical, but moving slowly back and forth to suggest the undulating Rhine, which was exactly how Das Rheingold had opened. Yes, the Ring is a cycle.

Our cast:
Brünnhilde: Deborah Voigt
Siegfried: Jay Hunter Morris
Hagen: Hans-Peter König
Gunther: Iain Paterson
Gutrune: Wendy Bryn Harmer
Waltraute: Waltraud Meier
Alberich: Eric Owens
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Robert Lepage

Last November in Siegfried, Jay Hunter Morris had been promoted from cover to performer, and triumphed in the role. It was very exciting to learn that he had been given the role of Siegfried in Götterdämmerung as well. While I can’t fault anything about his performance, it wasn’t the knock-your-socks-off kind of performance that he gave us in Siegfried, which I’m sure will be long remembered. Deborah Voigt did fine, but the winner in Götterdämmerung was Hans-Peter König, who displayed a magnificent bass voice, which his performances as Hunding in Die Walküre and Fafner in Siegfried had prepared me for. Iain Paterson sang a very strong Gunther, and Wendy Bryn Harmer made a fetching Gutrune. Eric Owens was his usual sonorous Alberich. Waltraud Meier (at 56) sang a fine Waltraute, although her Valkyrie costume didn’t fit her very well. Just short of an alpha—I want to see an encore performance if it is ever broadcast, but I really want to see a Siegfried encore.