Philippe Jordan with a view to Place Bastille. Photo: Johannes Ifkovits

Musical director at The Opera in Paris, Philippe Jordan is starting his operatic conducting with the premiere of Richard Wagner´s (1813-1883) opera Rheingold, which will be followed up in May with The Walkyrie. The complete sycle has not been performed at the Paris Opera since 1957.

 

 

These two parts of a new Paris Ring is the beginning of a new aera with Philippe Jordan as musical director, and the audience is, of course, exited to follow how this will be. With The Rheingold Philippe Jordan is having a flying start. This has become a brilliant performance. And I who only thought that the young conductor Philippe Jordan mostly was a Mozart conductor, but after having enjoyed his opening concert with Richard Strauss, Die Alensymphony,  now Richard Wagner The Rheingold and this followed a few days after by the concert evening with Mendelssohn, Chausson, Britten and Debussy. I am only happy to say that I have changed my opinion, and are now looking forward to many new and beautiful experiences with the young Mr. Philippe Jordan as conductor and musical director of Opera de Paris.

Légende : Falk Struckmann (Wotan), Photo: Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Rhinegold

staged by Günther Krämer, with scenography by Jürgen Bäckmann, costumes by Falk Bauer, Light by Diego Leetz, and Otto Pichler as responsible for the very well working choreography is a success.

The libretto recounts the world before men, a world where Gods, Giants and Nibelungen, – the forced laborers from the bowl of the earth, fight in a perpetual yet futile struggle for power. It is also a world that depicts Nature at the exact moment of the corruption, when the gold, lying on the riverbed under the guard of the Rheinmaidens, is stolen by the dwarf Alberich, Peter Sidhom, to forge a ring that gives power.

The performance is, as the music builds up to four different parts and pictures. They are very variated, and are in the beginning telling nearly each their own history. But after a while we find out that this is as pictures in a fairytale book, where the idea is to give us different up to date impressions, without losing the history, and the idea of it. The first picture is (of course) on the banks of the Rhine river, with the Rhine Maidens Woglinde, Caroline Stein, and Wellgunde, Daniela Sindram, joyfully and happy under the water, with 98 red fishes swimming around, – later on I found out it was the hands of the invisible 49 statists, dress in black, so you don’t see them because of the good lighting, and after a little while followed by Flosshilde, Nicole Piccolomini, who urges them to watch over the sleeping gold with greater attention. Alberich, Peter Sidhom, arrives and seeks attrack them one by one  And he snatches the gold from the rock, curses love and flees.

Second Act. plain in the high mountains. In the distance, the morning light reveals the finished palace of the goods. Wotan, wonderful sung by Falk Struckmann, and his wife Fricka, brilliantly performed by Sophie Koch, gaze at their new home
. It has been built by the giants Fasolt, Iain Peterson and Fafner, Günther Groissböck, and, in exchange, Wotan has promised Fricka´s sister, Freia, Ann Petersen, the goddess of youth and beauty and the guardian of the golden apples that ensure the gods´eternal youth. Ann Petersen is doing an outstanding performance as Freia, and is one of the biggest highlights of the evening.

Fricka is concerned about this promise. Loge, Kim Begley, finally arrives. As Mime we enjoy Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, and as Erda Giu Lin Zhang.

The finale i was feeling like I was back to the OL in Berlin in the 1930´s.

Honestly, thanks to the 49 male statists on stage, who is wonderfully coordinated, and choreographed, this is a big event, with so many good impressions.

 Please read our critic from Philippe Jordan´s opening concert November 14th 2009 at Opera Bastille: http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2009/11/wonderful-alpensymfonie-with-philippe-jordan/

Naïve is now presenting Eine Alpensymphonie from this concert on CD. We hope to review it later this season

.

Légende : scène finale