As with Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Barrie Kosky’s thrilling new Siegfried has its feet planted firmly in the natural world. However, this third instalment feels different. A lightness of touch in both Kosky’s direction and conductor Antonio Pappano’s supple way with the score allows an irresistible sense of joy to creep into Wagner’s tetralogy.
Presiding over it all is the Earth goddess, Erda, portrayed with magnetic presence by Illona Linthwaite. A frail old woman, she appears both vulnerable in her nakedness and yet strangely comforting as she watches over Siegfried, himself a child of nature.
Andreas Schager as Siegfried, Royal Opera House, London. Photo © Monika Rittershaus
Set designer Rufus Didwiszus’s charred trees may have been inspired by the devastation of Australian bushfires, but here Kosky signals a change of mood. As the curtain rises, we see Erda’s feet dangling in midair before the rest of her appears lazily rocking herself on a swing.
In this make-believe world, Mime and his foster child inhabit a tiny treehouse. The grizzle-haired dwarf appears in a dressing gown over a tatty, old dress that looks like it may have been stripped from the corpse of Sieglinde. Kosky, razor-sharp as ever with comedy, brings in a touch of Laurel and Hardy slapstick, with Siegfried more playful towards the old scamp than usual. Taking the unpleasant edge off the boy’s hectoring behaviour is no bad thing. The spectacular forging scene heralds the appearance of a brilliantly eccentric Heath Robinson contraption, its moving parts ensuring theatrical sparks fly everywhere.
Illona Linthwaite and Wiebke Lehmkuhl in Siegfried, Royal Opera House, London. Photo © Monika Rittershaus
At times, Victoria Behr’s costumes go down the grunge route, with Mime and the Wanderer looking as if they have limited access to laundry (which, of course, they do). Alberich appears in a coal-black hoodie, Fafner sports a scene-stealing multi-spined gold suit and Brünnhilde wears a floral-patterned dress in summery blue.
Act Two, set in a snowy, Hopper-esque landscape, comprises a bench, a lamppost and a gloomy house lit up in the background. Siegfried, of course, sees it all simply as another playground, making angels in the snow and filling Mime’s helmet with handfuls of the white stuff.
The final scene revisits the burned-out tree familiar from Act Three of Die Walküre. Surrounded by a lush field of flowers, from which Brünnhilde emerges limb by limb, it is a potent reminder of nature’s powers of renewal.
The cast is led by the indefatigable Siegfried of Andreas Schager. Singing with superhuman strength and stamina, his bronzed tenor rings out over forge and fire alike with plenty to spare for the gruelling final love scene. Physically irrepressible, he manages to be both naïve and endearing, a scatterbrained lad leaping and skipping as he hurtles towards his destiny. Peter Hoare’s weaselly Mime is a fine foil, cunning, bumbling and deadly, all at the same time.
Soloman Howard as Fafner, the dragon, in Siegfried, Royal Opera House, London. Photo © Monika Rittershaus
As the Wanderer, Christopher Maltman carries off the trophy for the cycle’s standout performance to date. Shabby coated and lank haired, he gives off an air of always being one step ahead of everyone else – until it all goes pear-shaped, of course. Vocally, his rich, firm baritone rides the mighty swells of Act Three. His singing is refreshingly lyrical and his attention to text is exceptional, especially in the adversarial conversations with Christopher Purves’s ADHD Alberich.
As Brünnhilde, Elisabet Strid captures the mix of awakening joy and horrified defencelessness, though her voice lacks amplitude next to Schager’s abundant tenor. Solomon Howard is a sonorous Fafner, a skull-faced hulk in bling-encrusted suit, countering Siegfried’s sword with a pair of golden walking sticks.
In the pit, Pappano leads a detailed reading of the score, coaxing an organic performance from the Royal Ballet and Opera Orchestra. It’s this synergy between pit and stage that makes this Kosky production stand out, whetting the appetite for next season’s Götterdämmerung.
Palace Opera & Ballet presents screenings of The Royal Opera’s Siegfried in selected cinemas nationally on 2, 3 & 6 May. Visit this link for session details.
Comments are closed.