Should Wagner save the world or simply entertain?

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":7.38,"text":"What is Wagner actually for? Milo Rau’s new production of Der fliegende Holländer at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper is an earnest effort at saving the world. Meanwhile, in Munich, Tobias Kratzer’s Ring continues with a Siegfried that seems to have set out primarily to entertain. Only one of the two succeeds."}],[{"start":28.54,"text":"There is a kind of Godwin’s law of opera. Any staging of Wagner in Germany will, sooner or later, contain a reference to Nazis. Rau jumps in headfirst. The eponymous Dutchman yearns for redemption from the eternal damnation his past crimes have brought upon him. Who else yearns for redemption? Oh, right: Germany."}],[{"start":49.66,"text":"In case we might miss the allegory, Rau presents each figure during the overture, with a projected title. Dutchman: Germany. Senta, the good girl: Israel. Senta’s avaricious father Daland: the founding of the Israeli state. Erik, the thwarted lover: the people of Palestine. Rau’s undertaking is painfully sincere and well intended, but any attempt to cram the awfulness of today’s Gaza neatly into three and a quarter hours of opera founders on the rocks."}],[{"start":79.1,"text":"After much heavy-handed navel-gazing, Rau concludes that Germany’s guilt is narcissistic. Redemption comes only when he, Milo Rau, through his onstage alter ego, Berlin-based Israeli performer Shlomi Moto Wagner, makes this art, and we, by watching, participate. Rau’s cast struggles visibly; so much effort went into the allegory that little was left for the actual performers, and Giedrė Šlekytė’s lacklustre conducting keeps any putative musical redemption firmly at bay."}],[{"start":79.6,"text":"★★☆☆☆"}],[{"start":109.42,"text":"To February 20, deutscheoperberlin.de"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":113.02,"text":"From the first notes of Siegfried in Munich, it is clear that conductor Vladimir Jurowski has a story to tell. Jurowski shapes every note and gives each phrase taut direction; you can feel the audience lean in. Siegfried is arguably the most ethically problematic of the Ring operas, with master-race hero Siegfried slaying his hook-nosed adoptive father, insulting his grandfather and hooking up with his aunt. But Kratzer resists the temptation of swastikas, and instead treats the tale with exquisite attention to detail."}],[{"start":145.82,"text":"Mime is a single father, raising his angry child with picture books, frozen pizza and affectionate exasperation. Fafner has used the Ring to accumulate wealth, and, now weary of worldly pleasures, has holed up in his lonely Munich apartment with an art hoard. Alberich, a punk, runs a thuggish street gang."}],[{"start":165.06,"text":"The first act works best, with Rainer Sellmaier’s sets depicting Mime’s shabby home. Instead of a bear, Siegfried brings in a guinea pig, then dispatches it in the microwave. Mime wraps the charred corpse in a tea towel and drops it tenderly into the rubbish bin, where it will later be joined by the remains of an overcooked pizza. Wotan handcuffs him to the radiator for their question session, but is thoughtful enough to take the rubbish with him when he leaves."}],[{"start":191.1,"text":"Fafner, along with the police, appears with spectacular balls of flame, but nobody challenges Siegfried when he emerges with a blood-soaked sword. Soon Mime’s blood joins Fafner’s; Kratzer allows us a Tarantino-esque amount of gore. But when Siegfried finds Brünnhilde asleep in the ruins of the opera house foyer, he becomes the child that Mime raised, breaking out his galaxy night light and finger-painting his story on the walls for her. Though not flawless, this is very good."}],[{"start":219.46,"text":"The cast is outstanding. Benjamin Bruns is a true discovery in the title role. He brings a concert singer’s flawless diction to floating, easy high notes and a burnished strength in the lower passages, always audible, never strained, with exquisite phrasing. Matthias Klink is a sophisticated Mime, Georg Nigl brings method acting to the part of Alberich, Nicholas Brownlee is a formidable Wotan, and Simone Schneider’s Brünnhilde is robust yet nuanced."}],[{"start":248.98,"text":"Munich’s Ring continues as the leading cycle in Europe, clever, perceptive and musically astonishing. Wagner can also just be Wagner; good handiwork is redemption enough."}],[{"start":249.48,"text":"★★★★★"}],[{"start":260.02,"text":"To October 31, staatsoper.de"}],[{"start":267.06,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793416142_3633.mp3"}