Last month saw three complete cycles of Catalán theatre troup Fura del Baus´ staging of the Nibelungen Ring - a co-production with the Maggio Fiorentino Festival in Florence.
Fura del Baus deservedly received their major international break-through at the Salzburg Festival 1999 with a stunning production of Damnation de Faust. Visually, their Nibelungen Ring seems equally stunning, apparently utilizing the spectacular architecture of the Palau de les Arte Reina Sofia = The archtectonic masterpiece, which constitues the Valencia Opera House. And best of all, everyone will be able to form their own opinion as it is scheduled for DVD release on Unitel.
In brief, Fura del Baus seems to take a rather traditional approach to the Ring, judged by the core dramaturgy and storytelling, but executed with top of the top of modern stage technology. A more visually spectacular Ring I have never seen.
Zubin Mehta conducts, major parts are taken by Juha Uusitalo (Wotan), Jennifer Wilson (Brünnhilde), Matti Salminen/Stephen Milling (the various bass parts).
In a previous post I discussed the Siegfried, which opened june 2008 in Valencia, including links to extensive Italian video documentaries on both Siefgried , Walküre and Rheingold when performed in Firenze
Video clip from Rheingold:
From various parts of the cycle: Amateur video recordings. Note how the exterior of the Valencia opera house fits in with Rheingold and Walküre:
12 comments:
The conductor is Zubin Mehta not Lorin Maazel.
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Yes, thanks for pointing that out. I always tend to mix the two up them up - wonder why, since I am not a particular fan of Maazel..
Perhaps you are not a fan of Mehta either?!
I also believe the same. I Gotterdammerung after this year, a little less. I prefer Maazel, always
I am a fluctuating fan of both. I have heard both do fantastic work and also some atrocious work as well. Mehta's TURANDOT recording remains the best of my experience, however.
Certainly the Turadot of Decca is great, but Mehta live for ever not liked me, if I may, I think that your works are very superficial.
My works?! His works I hope! LOL
Great Ring production, extremely spectacular from the visual point of view, at times may be too much, with huge influence from Star Wars esthetic, especially in some costumes and videos. Not very detailed or elaborated personen-regie. But I enjoyed it very much.
From the musical point of view, the Orchestra played very beautifully, though Mehta´s conducting was rather uninspiring, he leaves the impression that he could (or at least should) do better. Strong vocal cast, with special mention for the Brünnhilde of young American soprano Jennifer Wilson, of huge vocal power, a beautiful colour in her middle and top registers and good phrasing intentions, though she does not portray (yet) a great tragic character. Also great performances from Eva Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde and from Niklas Björling Rygert(a singer I didn´t know) as Mime. All in all, a great event and a quite enjoyable Ring.
Was this a free event? On the last clip people in the audience are talking constantly. Must have been extremely annoying if you are a devoted fan.
The opera performances were not free and took place inside the Palau de les Arts. The "Anell de llum" was a Fura show with some Ring music happening outside the Palau, and this one was free.
Das Rheingold was shown on Sky Arts in the Uk last month - visually and dramatically outstanding. I had the misfortune of seeing Gergiev's appalling Mariinsky Ring in London last week so cannot wait to see more of La Fura's Ring
These clips are a terrific tease! It's beyond my vocabulary to describe. Certainly not subtle, but dramatic, YES. The coming together of the rainbow bridge was indescribable!
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