And now onto Siegfried. Many consider the toughest nut to crack in the cycle, and it comes at the toughest point in the day, right after we\u2019ve all gone out for Chinese food\u2026.<\/p>\n
For episode three we\u2019ve turned to the Met and James Levine. After the leather and lasers from Bayreuth, the naturalistic sets and traditional costumes come as a bit of a shock. It\u2019s easy to see how the sunglasses and mullets we\u2019ve had so far date those productions, but then again, the unfortunate resemblance of the great James Morris as the Wanderer to Kenny Rogers circa The Gambler also tells a sad story of the state of makeup in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve girded our loins with a fresh pot of coffee and we\u2019re gradually adjusting to the sound of a different orchestra\u00a0 and a new look on the screen. I\u2019ve seen this DVD before, but I\u2019m hoping the context will bring some interesting new insights\u2026.<\/p>\n
In the end, Siegfried, always the toughest of the four Ring operas to pull off, disappoints in this production. The sound is boxy and dry, the orchestra sounds colorless and a little disinterested. Levine’s dynamic range is rather puny after the monumental scale of Barenboim’s Walk\u00fcre. The naturalistic staging seems like a fine idea in principle, but the whole thing comes off as rather faded and low-energy.<\/p>\n
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