WAGNER: DAS RHIENGOLD, PRELIMINARY EVENING OF THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG
THE COLISEUM – 26 JANUARY, 2001

English National Opera
Paul Daniel

Photo by Bill Rafferty

Modestly presented as “a concert presentation”, this unpretentious and economical performance of Rhiengold had every luxury of dramatic interest and musical grandeur. There were no gargantuan costumes or lavish machinery, no animals, children, smoke or fire; instead, two and a half hours – it passed too quickly – of the best that opera can be.

With the freshness and effervescence typical of the acclaimed ENO Baylis project (whose aim is to bring opera to a wider community beyond the Coliseum), this was also a show ideal for newcomers to Wagner and his works, especially the young. Without any appointed director, the singers had clearly been left to develop their own dramatic interpretation with the minimum of interference. This instinctive freedom gave life to the text and depth to the musical line. It really was both impressive and heartening to see that fine singers, like great orchestras, do not always need pushing and shoving. Good artists left to their own devices can and do find the best way.

Unusually, the characters acted and reacted directly through the audience, including everyone in the compelling magic of the narrative. All the chattels of enchantment from the Ring itself to Alberich’s successive transformations into serpent and frog were made graphically real by apt nuance and gesture. All this was, needless to say, greatly assisted by an impeccably clear and fruity English translation from Jeremy Sams. It might be a shocking thing to say, but I am sure that many present had not really expected to find the show so accessible and entertaining.

What could have been a lacklustre evening of stand-and-deliver was instead a statement of the utmost self-confidence.

This was an all-star achievement by any estimation. Paul Daniel delivered an ample and detailed reading of the score, forging expanded ranks into an international force. Splendid Rhine maidens lent a magisterial dignity to frame the drama – Christine Rice, irrepressible in any role, sounded suitably expensive. Andrew Shore and Matthew Best, squabbling brilliantly as Wotan and Alberich, fleshed out the main meat with mercurial and virtuosic assistance from Tom Randle as Loge. Patricia Bardon’s appearance as Erde was matriarchal and dignified enough to strike reason into the most demented fool, whereas John Graham-Hall’s Mime cowered with the very essence of befuddled emasculation. Above all, this was a whole greater than the sum of its parts; to single out any one contribution as more important than the others would be unfair and inappropriate.

What could have been a lacklustre evening of stand-and-deliver was instead a statement of the utmost self-confidence. From the shattering of Handel’s bust in the last scene of McVicker’s Alcina to the controversial scaffolding of the highly successful Italian season, English National Opera has brought its own concerns, political and financial, into the limelight. This remarkable Rhinegold launches a new Ring cycle that will accompany a programme of company development and refurbishment until 2005. If this is the quality of workmanship to be expected, it will not be a wasted effort. Look out for more Wagner at the Coliseum.

Paul Richardson