[Met Performance] CID:266010



Das Rheingold
Metropolitan Opera House, Tue, September 22, 1981

Debut : Eva Randov?, Birgit Finnil?, Heinz Zednik, Eleanor Bergquist




Das Rheingold (111)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Wotan
Franz Ferdinand Nentwig

Fricka
Eva Randov? [Debut]

Alberich
Franz Mazura

Loge
Ragnar Ulfung

Erda
Birgit Finnil? [Debut]

Fasolt
John Macurdy

Fafner
Aage Haugland

Freia
Ellen Shade

Froh
Gerd Brenneis

Donner
Vern Shinall

Mime
Heinz Zednik [Debut]

Woglinde
Eleanor Bergquist [Debut]

Wellgunde
Brenda Boozer

Flosshilde
Isola Jones

Set & Projection Designer
G?nther Schneider-Siemssen


Conductor
Erich Leinsdorf


Director
Herbert Von Karajan

Costume Designer
George Wakhevitch

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
Wolfgang Weber





Das Rheingold received four performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Bill Zakariasen in the Daily News

Voices, Sets give 'Rheingold' a glow

The Metropolitan Opera gave the first installment of its "mini Ring cycle -- Das Rheingold" -- Tuesday night. "Siegfried" follows this evening, but in the meantime its predecessor "Die Walk?re" and successor '"G?tterd?mmerung" will have to wait on ice until the Gospel According to Richard Wagner can be properly fulfilled.

With the exception of tenor Ragnar Ulfung as Loge, the large "Rheingold" cast was completely new since the "Ring" was last performed at the Met during the 1974-75 season. So was the conductor in a way, since Erich Leinsdorf last led "Rheingold" here in 1962, when the production was different. Leinsdorf is, of course, a practiced hand in Wagner's music, and his conducting had admirable clarity and pace. His conception of "Rheingold" stressed the symphonic more than the descriptive, but I'm not quite sure it works best that way. The orchestra, except for the noticeably asthmatic horn contingent, was in good form.

The cast was able, with the new Nibelungs stealing the show. Franz Mazura was as fine an Alberich as I've witnessed - his potent baritone, venomous, yet human, command of text and his?gnarled appearance rounded out a complete characterization. As his partner in crime Mime, debuting tenor Heinz Zednik sniveled and scrounged wonderfully, without neglecting vocal niceties,

Franz Ferdinand Nentwig's baritone is lighter than what one usually hears in Wotan, but his lean sound seems to fit the "Ring's" first chapter very well, and he captured the god's nobility as well as his fatal flaws. Debuting mezzo Eva Randova wisely realized that the "Rheingold" Fricka isn't the shrewish termagant she becomes in "Walk?re." She gave Mrs. Wotan a pleasingly sultry character and smooth, colorfully shaded vocalism.

Aage Haugland and John Macurdy were excellent as the giants Fafner and Fasolt, though I wish they were made to look taller. Debuting contralto Birgit Fiinnila sang the ominous prophecy of that green-faced torso Erda with properly sepulchral tone. The rest of the excellent lineup, all in fine vocal and dramatic estate, included Eleanor Bergquist (another debutante), Brenda Boozer and Isola Jones as the Rheinmaidens, Ellen Shade as Freia, Gerd Brenneis as Froh, and Vern Shinall as Donner. Ulfung's Loge was potently vocalized and acted in a properly wily manner, though I prefer a true heldentenor in the part.

Gunther Schneider-Siemmsen's monumental sets remain among the most impressive in the Met's warehouse, and Wolfgang Weber's staging breaks considerably fewer "Ring" traditions than some current ones we've seen.



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