Robert Lepage's elegant set continues to impress with its endless transformations in this final part of the Ring. It can be Brünnhilde's abode, a boat on the Rhine, the Hall of the Gibichungs. In one stunning moment, when the 24 slabs become the Rhine, Gunther appears to wash his bloody hands in the water and the whole river turns red. There are some stunning performances too, particularly from the Gibichung trio. There is the voluptuous Wendy Bryn Harmer as Gutrune and the well-characterised performance of Iain Paterson as the diffident Gunther. Best of all is the wonderful portrayal of glowering menace from Hans-Peter König as Hagen. He even manages to outglower Eric Owens's Alberich in the brief scene that the Niebelung father and son have together.
In this 4½ hour epic there are scenes that I sometimes feel that Wagner could have trimmed since they just provide back story. I never had that feeling during this production. I loved the Norns scene that opens the opera and, because it is presented in such a dramatic and visual way I concentrated on the back story much more than usual. The Rheinmaidens are as ravishing as ever, although they appear to have lost their tails since Rheingold and Waltraud Meyer gives a barnstorming performance as the Valkyrie Waltraute. I even enjoyed the long scene where Siegfried, essentially rehashes the plot of the previous opera. Jay Hunter Morris's imitation of the woodbird was charming. Some of Morris's double takes are quite amusing although I think they would be better suited to a Hollywood romcom.
Neither Jay Hunter Morris nor Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde quite attain the level of perfection that they achieved in the final act of Siegfried. I guess that they had performed that opera a couple of days earlier and were still suffering. If their performances were less than perfect they were still totally thrilling. Voigt immolation scene was a fitting climax to this 15 hour epic. At the end, she really does climb onto her horse and ride into the flames of Siegfried's funeral pyre. That is the first time that I have ever seen that particular stage direction of Wagner's taken so literally. After that, the end is an anti-climax. I fully expected Robert Lepage's versatile set to recreate Valhalla going up in flames but everything ends quietly.
In this 4½ hour epic there are scenes that I sometimes feel that Wagner could have trimmed since they just provide back story. I never had that feeling during this production. I loved the Norns scene that opens the opera and, because it is presented in such a dramatic and visual way I concentrated on the back story much more than usual. The Rheinmaidens are as ravishing as ever, although they appear to have lost their tails since Rheingold and Waltraud Meyer gives a barnstorming performance as the Valkyrie Waltraute. I even enjoyed the long scene where Siegfried, essentially rehashes the plot of the previous opera. Jay Hunter Morris's imitation of the woodbird was charming. Some of Morris's double takes are quite amusing although I think they would be better suited to a Hollywood romcom.
Neither Jay Hunter Morris nor Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde quite attain the level of perfection that they achieved in the final act of Siegfried. I guess that they had performed that opera a couple of days earlier and were still suffering. If their performances were less than perfect they were still totally thrilling. Voigt immolation scene was a fitting climax to this 15 hour epic. At the end, she really does climb onto her horse and ride into the flames of Siegfried's funeral pyre. That is the first time that I have ever seen that particular stage direction of Wagner's taken so literally. After that, the end is an anti-climax. I fully expected Robert Lepage's versatile set to recreate Valhalla going up in flames but everything ends quietly.