AP News, July 9th, 2007
No costumes. No scenery. Just pure music.
Only the orchestra shared the stage with the singers Sunday, and there was not a spear or helmet in sight. With such limitations, this performance of excerpts from "Die Walkuere," "Tristan und Isolde" and "Tannhaeuser" might not be everyone's idea of a perfect evening of Wagner.
But with a robust orchestra weaned on the German maestro and an impressive trio of stars, the odds were that Sunday's event would be a success.
It was more _ as perfect an operatic evening as even a finicky Munich audience could hope for. More than five minutes of thunderous applause ended a much-too-short performance, mixed with prolonged foot stomping, Bavarian style.
In the first act of "Die Walkuere," Placido Domingo was in full Wagnerian voice as Siegmund, his timbre brassy when called for, his phrasing extended, with little trace of the baritone drag that comes with age. He cleverly paced himself, so when the time came to pull out all stops he delivered with spine-tingling intensity.
Waltraud Meier was his match as Sieglinde, Siegmund's sister-turned-lover. Her voice was the ultimate instrument, perfect in pitch and phrasing, alternately full-bodied and subtle. And she outshone Domingo in expression, her facial and body language complementing the drama of the siblings' first encounter since childhood _ an encounter that leads to love.
As Hunding, Sieglinde's warrior husband, Rene Pape was scary.
He scowled. His perfectly controlled bass voice imparted menace. His phrasing was impeccable.
"Huete Dich wohl" _ "Be on your guard" _ he warned Siegmund.
His voice was soft but you could almost feel a shudder run down the audience's collective backbone.
Pape and Meier also shone in excerpts from "Tristan and Isolde." Local favorite Martin Gantner performed serviceably as Wolfram from Eschenbach in vignettes from the Third Act, Second Scene of "Tannhaeuser."
But of course Wagner is only as good as the orchestra performing it.
Under the direction of Kent Nagano, the Bavarian State Opera orchestra blended seamlessly with the singers to produce a musical tapestry without a loose thread.
Cellos and double-basses hummed with such storm-like intensity at the outset of "Die Walkuere" that the audience would likely not have been surprised at a few drops of rain. And when Pape sung "Markes Klage" _ "Marke's Lament" _ from "Tristan und Isolde," the mournful bass clarinet was the perfect underpinning for the complaint of the king betrayed by his most trusted knight.
And what would an evening of Wagner be without a chorus? On Sunday, it was the entry of the guests from "Tannhaeuser," compliments of the State Opera choir.
Robust. Wagnerian. With such a vocal feast, there was simply no need for scenery.
