On July 13, 14, 20, and 21, New York City’s Metropolitan Opera hosted a particularly noteworthy performance of Wagner’s four-opera work, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The Kirov Opera of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia presented this event under the baton of Musical and Artistic Director Valery Gergiev. Gergiev, a charismatic and adventurous maestro, originally conducted this new production of the Ring Cycle in St. Petersburg during the 2002-03 concert-season. This historic presentation of the Ring Cycle represented the first time that the tetralogy had been performed in its entirety in German at the Mariinsky Theatre since the 1913-1914 season.
Since its opening season in 1860, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (with a seating capacity of about 1,500) has been one of the great centers of operatic and ballet performance in Russia. With Gergiev as its artistic director and chief conductor since 1988, the Kirov Opera continues to rise in prominence, currently maintaining one of the most active touring schedules of any opera company in the world. This production, co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center, was one stop in an extensive touring schedule that, since 2003, has included complete Ring Cycle performances in Korea, Japan, Moscow, Cardiff (Wales), and California.
Architect, sculptor, and artist George Tsypin designed the sets for this new production. Gergiev and Tsypin, who are close friends, worked together to develop this conception of the Ring. Instead of attempting to present the Ring in a traditional way (by replicating Wagner’s staging directions), Gergiev and Tsypin gave the operas a new twist by incorporating elements of Eastern European myth and their own cultural heritages. Throughout this performance of Wagner’s epic tetralogy, stage settings as well as costumes reflected their view of the Ring as a world epic.
The most striking and omnipresent stage settings were four enormous humanoid figures. When upright, these great figures rose to nearly the full height of the Metropolitan Opera stage.
Tsypin’s vivid description of these figures helps to clarify some of their functions in the opera: “They represent the four operas of the cycle, the four seasons, the four directions, and the four elements. They are silent witnesses, cosmic creatures playing their own drama, telling their own metastory onstage.”
Their “story” sometimes distracted from the drama playing out on the stage below, but their presence provided some visual consistency throughout the four performances and emphasized the large physical, temporal, and emotional scale of the tetralogy.
In contrast to the humanoids, 20 or 30 other small, creature-looking figures (perhaps four or five feet tall and snowman shaped) inhabited the stage, fulfilling a wide variety of functions. The giant humanoids and small mystical creatures were not the only unnamed “characters” on stage in this production of the Ring. Throughout much of the operas, silent dancers entered and exited, usually as stagehands helping to move pieces of the set or to transport members of the cast. At other times, however, they blended with the scenery, becoming part of the set. For example, in the opening of Das Rheingold, they represented water, and in the sword-forging scene of Siegfried, they served as the fire in the furnace. The dance troupe also created a visual connection between scenes during long orchestral sections.
Many singers in this large and complex cast stood out as accomplished and compelling artists. It should be said, however, that most cast members initially experienced difficulty with sound projection in the sometimes-ungrateful Metropolitan Opera House.
Alexei Tanovitsky, as Wotan, presented a strong, consistent vocal sound, and he physically projected this powerful character well. Vasily Gorshkov was assured and craftily conniving in his portrayal of the demigod, Loge. His rendition of this role was memorable, thanks to the clarity of his voice and his excellent German. In her portrayal of Fricka, Larissa Diadkova contributed a voice of great color and beauty, but she was not successful in projecting the text clearly. Nikolai Putilin, as Alberich, used his rich baritone voice well, and Zlata Bulycheva, as Erda, inspired respect as she rendered advice to Wotan in her warm, low voice.
Mlada Khudoley gave a deeply heart-rending performance as Sieglinde, exhibiting a voice of magnificent variety that was able to adapt to the intense emotional demands of the role with ease and believability. Olga Sergeeva sang the difficult role of Brünnhilde with varying degrees of success—she possesses a beautiful voice and generally projected it very well, but she struggled at times with pitch precision, especially in her famous “hojotoho” cry.
Gergiev chose to use more than one singer in some roles, particularly for some of the more difficult and demanding ones. For example, in the New York performance, Nikolai Putilin played Alberich in Das Rheingold, Edem Umerov played Alberich in Siegfried, and Victor Chernomortsev in Götterdämmerung. Even more confusing to audience members: Vasily Gorshkov, who gave a riveting performance as Loge in Das Rheingold, was not nearly as effective in his portrayal of Mime in Siegfried. It would have been more logical to retain Andrey Popov, who had given a fine performance as Mime in Das Rheingold.
One possible explanation for some of these casting choices comes from John Ardoin’s book, Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival. “It is often against Gergiev’s best interests to tour with his finest artists,” Ardoin writes, “for some of them establish firm footholds outside of Russia and eventually move to the West, rarely, if ever, returning home.”
Perhaps Gergiev brought a few of his house stars (Larissa Diadkova as Fricka, Alexei Tanovitsky as Wotan, and Olga Sergeeva as Brünnhilde), filling out the rest of the cast with singers who vocally would not be up to performing on multiple consecutive nights.
Another perplexing decision relevant to this production of the Ring was the omission of a stage director. It seems that Gergiev aimed to create a production that stresses music, singing, and set design while de-emphasizing stage action. This generally worked well, but many times more connection or energy between characters was needed, which could have been achieved through more cohesive stage direction and coaching. Even in some of the most touching and interactive scenes, such as Wotan’s Farewell, some fine directing talent would have been valuable to help the characters negotiate Tsypin’s sets. At other times, the cast seemed awkwardly adrift, either because of insufficient rehearsal time or unclear stage instructions.
Recalling productions such as the controversial Chéreau centenary production from Bayreuth, it should be possible to have great singing combined with galvanizing interpersonal interaction. This level of directorial talent could have produced a more communicative and comfortable interpretation from the singers, while still maintaining the visual aura of the magical sets.
It is a noteworthy achievement under any circumstance to present Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle. We can be grateful to the Kirov Opera for taking this magnificent work on tour, thus increasing its well-deserved popularity around the world.
