Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Posted on 06/07/2012 1:01:32 PM PDT by Borges
Robert Lepage's acclaimed new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, will air on Great Performances at the Met, September 11-14 in primetime each night on PBS stations (check local listings), as a major television event.
The operas - Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung - will be preceded on Monday, September 10 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) by the airing of award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke's documentary Wagner's Dream, which chronicles the backstage story of the creation of this ambitious new staging.
This is only the third time a complete Ring cycle has been aired on PBS. In 1983, Great Performances aired Patrice Chereau's production of the Ring conducted by Pierre Boulez from the Bayreuth Festival, and in 1990, Live from the Met (the precursor of Great Performances at the Met) presented Otto Schenk's Metropolitan Opera production, conducted by James Levine.
Classical Ping
The music will, as always, be magnificent. What varies is the setting and the stage directions. The Ring can be awfully static and visually somnolent (as was true of the Beyreuth).
I just closed my eyes and let my ears feast.
Who is singing?
"Will Robert Lepage’s version of the “Ring,” which finishes a run at the Met this week, recover from the drubbing it has received in the print press and on the Internet? Anything is possible, but probably not. This “Ring” has few defenders, and they are far exceeded in vehemence by its detractors.
"In a column in March, I went out on a limb and declared that “pound for pound, ton for ton, it is the most witless and wasteful production in modern operatic history.” Anthony Tommasini, in the Times, called it “the most frustrating opera production I have ever had to grapple with.” Justin Davidson, in New York, wrote, “There’s hardly a moment in any of the four episodes when you sense the director’s passionate involvement with the characters or their moral dilemmas.” Brian Kellow, in Opera News (published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild), announced that “we are in the midst of a very bad period,” and went on to quote my “Ring” review. Heidi Waleson, in the Wall Street Journal, perceived “no sustaining vision.” Jeremy Eichler, in the Boston Globe, tapped in the final nail: “In their fetishization of technological brilliance at the expense of just about everything else, Lepage’s productions remain a chilling, cautionary tale."
But, what the hell; it's free on PBS. Pity those who spent thousands of dollars for one seat to all four operas!
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/05/the-met-ring-cycle-critics.html#ixzz1x8lA0wA5
I saw it in the theater and loved it. It works better that way than live in this case.
Maytag’s Rinse Cycle to start soon, gotta go!
Wow, PBS must be getting desperate— they’re resorting to cultural programming.
I saw Gotterdamerung in San Francisco and it was amazing. I think in 2010. I just closed my eyes during Siegfrieds funeral march and loved every minute. I look forward to the rest of the Ring. I want to see Parsifal. It is Wagners last opera and it is about redemption. Maybe the mean sob had a awakening before he died. I love all of his music.
Of the DVD versions available I prefer Kupfer’s in general but the Boulez/Chereau has grown on me. I watched the cycle when it originally aired. (Unfortunately on VHF TV with mediocre reception.)
We have a theater nearby that does the HD Met broadcasts but getting tickets is a pain and, well, I hate movie theaters. Doesn’t matter if it’s opera. Movie audiences are just that.
I’ll be watching this one.
This sort of thing used to be their norm. Good to see them getting back to it.
Sounds nice, until you actually try to sit through it.
This is only the third time a complete Ring cycle has been aired on PBS. In 1983, Great Performances aired Patrice Chereau's production of the Ring conducted by Pierre Boulez from the Bayreuth Festival
That was the best "dam" production of Wagner ever made.
Worth DVR’ing, I suppose.
My wife and I paid to see the LA Opera’s “Das Rheingold” in the 2010-11 season and were bored out of our minds. We thus skipped the next four Ring operas. (”Rheingold” is the shortest of the four, IIRC.)
After nearly 12 hours , the is a huge climax in the end...but it ain’t over till the fat lady sings!
Bryn Terfel as Wotan, for one.
I have the 1990 version on DVD. Been a while since I watched it. It’s a peerless work of art.
BFL
Are you referring to Wagner or opera in general?
Right. now, there is a hate-on going on between the majority gay NY critical media and Peter Gelb, the General Manager at the Met - they’re PO’d because they don’t feel he’s giving enough face time to their favorite gay conductor, Yannick Nezet Seguin.
In the case of Brian Kellow and Heidi Wallison, they are connected to the Metropolitan Opera Guild, whose budget Peter Gelb had a hand in reducing sharply, resulting in quite a few firings and reductions in salary.
I wouldn’t pay much attention to these articles.
(I saw two cycles of the new production - enjoyed them very much.)
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