Season finale: a disappointing ending to Bayreuth's Götterdämmerung

Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele

Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde)

Stéphanie Müther and Kelly God (Norns)

Albert Dohmen (Hagen), Michael Kupfer-Radecky (Gunther) and Stephen Gould (Siegfried)

Elisabeth Teige (Gutrune) and Michael Kupfer-Radecky (Gunther)

By Matthew Rye, 16 August 2022

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“the final stages of the drama begin to unravel like the Norns' rope of fate”

Reviewed at Bayreuther Festspielhaus, Bayreuth on 15 August 2022

Wagner, Götterdämmerung

Cornelius Meister, Conductor

Valentin Schwarz, Director

Andrea Cozzi, Set Designer

Andy Besuch, Costume Designer

Reinhard Traub, Lighting Designer

Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Bayreuth Festival Chorus

Konrad Kuhn, Dramaturgy

Stephen Gould, Siegfried

Iréne Theorin, Brünnhilde

Michael Kupfer-Radecky, Gunther

Elisabeth Teige, Gutrune

Albert Dohmen, Hagen

Ólafur Sigurdarson, Alberich

Christa Mayer, Waltraute

Okka von der Damerau, First Norn

Stéphanie Müther, Second Norn

Kelly God, Third Norn

Lea-ann Dunbar, Woglinde

Stephanie Houtzeel, Wellgunde

Simone Schröder, Flosshilde

Eberhard Friedrich, Choirmaster / chorus director

Drunk on ambition: Siegfried takes us deeper into a forest of ideas

Matthew Rye, 13th August

Will Siegfried get his girl? Will she turn out to be his sister? And has the ultimate prize already got into the wrong hands? More posers from Bayreuth's intriguing new Ring.

****1

From birth to death: Die Walküre gets some interesting plot twists

Matthew Rye, 11th August

The plot thickens as "episode two" of Bayreuth's new Ring muddies the waters of Siegfried’s paternity and Wotan comes to regret his actions.

*****

Family saga: Bayreuth's new Rheingold presents a story of today

Matthew Rye, 10th August

The Bayreuth Festival's new Ring gets off to a promising start with a tautly directed Rheingold, but will we find out what it all means?

****1

Gebrochene Liebe, zerbrochner Krug: Opern-Einakter in Weimar

Michael Vieth, 20th September

Archaisches Liebesdrama ohne Happy End und ein pralles Lustspiel über einen Richter, der Unrecht spricht: zwei vorzügliche Vertonungen nach Texten von Heinrich von Kleist.

****1

Happy end pour le Ring de Bayreuth selon Valentin Schwarz

Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 25th August

Dernier opus de la Tétralogie, le Crépuscule des dieux s'avère plutôt convaincant scéniquement. Vocalement, les chanteurs rendent justice à la musique de Wagner, malgré des signes de fatigue.

****1

Des sitcoms au blockbuster : Siegfried s'émancipe à Bayreuth

Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 23rd August

La mise en scène du troisième volet de la Tétralogie déçoit cette fois-ci franchement, malgré de splendides décors. Musicalement cependant, il est difficile de rêver mieux !

***11

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).