Wagner – Das Rheingold

Wotan – Thomas Johannes Meyer
Loge – Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacker
Alberich – Claudio Otelli
Fricka – Atala Schöck
Erda – Bernadett Fodor
Mime – Cornel Frey
Fasolt – Sorin Coliban
Fafner – Wilhelm Schwinghammer
Donner – Liviu Holender
Froh – Paolo Antognetti
Freia – Sonija Šarić
Woglinde – Yulia Tkachenko
Wellgunde – Marina Ogii
Flosshilde – Egle Wyss

Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Oksana Lyniv.
Concert performance.

Teatro Comunale di Bologna – Auditorium Manzoni, Bologna, Italy.  Thursday, June 13th, 2024.

And so, another adventure begins.  Just weeks after I saw one Ring close in Helsinki, after following it since 2019, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is now undertaking its own.  This Das Rheingold marks the opening of the Bolognese cycle, which will run through the end of 2025.  Given that the house is currently closed for renovations, with staged operatic performances exiled to an exhibition hall forty minutes from downtown, it was perhaps a logical step for the house to chose to perform this Ring in concert.  This proved to be a most fortuitous choice since the Auditorium Manzoni, where the orchestra performs its symphonic concerts, is a magnificent venue.  The acoustic is superb, warm and generous, with the orchestral climaxes overwhelming in a way that they aren’t when the orchestra is confined to the pit.

Conducting duties for this cycle have been assigned to the house Music Director, Oksana Lyniv, one of the very small number of conductors who identify as female to have conducted at Bayreuth.  Since this was a concert performance, with the orchestra on stage and cast singing from music stands at the front, we benefitted from being able to see Lyniv at work.  She’s an inspirational conductor, extremely supportive of her singers, knowing when to allow the orchestra to let rip, but also knowing when to pull back and let the less resonant voices through.  Hers was a relatively swift reading.  I didn’t check my watch at the start, but given that the evening began with some speeches and ended at precisely 22:30, I would estimate that it ran for around 2 hours and 20 minutes.  Lyniv allowed the opening to emerge from nothingness, slowly moulding the layers of sound until they came together in a gushing force.  We didn’t have to wait for the rainbow bridge to come into sight for us to hear a rainbow of sound in the band – as the first glimpse of the gold came into view, the sheer wealth of orchestral sound that Lyniv obtained was staggering.  The giants were delightfully fleet of foot, giving a sense of rhythmic impetus that was undeniable.  Indeed, that sense of rhythm was overwhelming, overtaking us physically in this wonderful acoustic.  Interestingly, Lyniv led the Erda scene at a relatively swift tempo – rather than mystic, the scene was filled with urgency.

The orchestral playing was, by and large, excellent.  That said, the brass was extremely accident-prone and suggests that for Walküre they would probably benefit from significantly more rehearsal.  Quite a few climaxes were marred by split notes as we reached them.  The strings and winds were superb.  The way that the rainbow bridge came into sight, feather light strings playing with glorious cantabile lyricism, the four harps twinkling underneath, was just miraculous.  The italianità of the orchestral sound, the way that the cellos phrased the rising motif as if singing it, when Fasolt sang of Freia’s ‘Schönheit’, was wonderful to hear.  Above all, the orchestral performance tonight reminded us that this music is not so removed from bel canto, with long lyrical lines superimposed on a driving rhythmic framework.  Lyniv’s reading felt revelatory.

Despite the cast being arranged around music stands, they did attempt to inject drama into the evening.  The confrontation between Thomas Johannes Mayer’s Wotan and Claudio Otelli’s Alberich was particularly potent.  A screen behind the orchestra offered an Italian translation of the text and the stage instructions, with an English translation of the sung text and the original German below.  Mayer’s Wotan was sung in a leathery baritone, dry in tone.  The voice lacks the ideal amplitude for the role, though fortunately Lyniv always let him through.  Indeed, from his first entry I was worried he wouldn’t last the course.  This was the second of two performances on successive evenings, so perhaps the tiredness is understandable – but it did not make for easy listening.  Otelli, on the other hand, was absolutely thrilling.  As far as I can recall, this was my first time hearing the Austrian bass-baritone, so I looked him up and discovered that he’s 64 years old.  This was hard to believe given how utterly fresh the voice sounds.  The sound is absolutely huge, riding the orchestral tumult with ease.  He raged tremendously, yet never allowed the quality of the tone to be compromised, the top free and easy – and would probably make a few tenors jealous.  Yet he wasn’t just about the volume, Otelli used Wagner’s dynamic markings so intelligently, which gave his performance even more impact.  He was sensational.

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacker brought his familiar textual eloquence to Loge.  He injected the role with laconic flexibility.  Despite the concert setting, his was a fully lived-in performance, everything brought out through the text.  Atala Schöck sang Fricka in a voluptuous mezzo, with agreeable sheen, although her tuning higher up in the part was rather approximate.  Her Magyar compatriot, Bernadett Fodor, was a striking Erda.  She warned in a big, generous contralto, filling the words with desperate meaning, the bottom rich and full and registers even.  Sonija Šarić sang Freia in a bright, almost chilly soprano, not the most refulgent in tone, the voice instead redolent of an icy wind, yet still had wonderful amplitude. 

Sorin Coliban gave us a terrifically resonant Fasolt, the voice absolutely huge, while Wilhelm Schwinghammer’s Fafner was slightly more soft-grained yet still big in sound.  Cornel Frey gave us a Mime full of character, in a healthy tenor.  Paolo Antognetti sang Froh in a bright, focused tenor, extremely well placed, with easy cutting power.  Liviu Holender’s Donner was sung in a firm baritone, with easy reach on top.  We also had a mellifluous and extrovert trio of Rhinemaidens in Yulia Tkachenko, Marina Ogii and Egle Wyss. 

This was a Rheingold that seemed to fly by as if in an instant.  It was an evening full of drama, one that lived through the text.  Getting to hear this score played by an Italian orchestra was a real treat – they filled this music with genuine lyricism and so much energy.  Frankly, I could have listened to it all again immediately.  Hopefully, the brass will have some more rehearsal for future instalments.  The singing was excellent, Otelli’s Alberich in particular.  The audience responded at the close with generous ovations, a few isolated boos for Mayer, and significant cheers for Ablinger-Sperrhacker and Otelli.  But the biggest cheers at the close were for Lyniv and her orchestra – justifiably so.  I simply can’t wait now for Walküre in October.