No stranger to Staatsoper Berlin, Dmitri Tcherniakov worked with Daniel Barenboim (general music director of Staatsoper Berlin for 30 years from 1992 until his resignation in January 2023 due to health reasons) on Tristan und Isolde in 2018 and, a year later, on Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery.
But this is his first stab at the Ring (dating from 2022) which followed hard on the heels of Deutsche Oper Berlin’s cycle of 2021 directed by Norwegian director, Stefan Herheim. He’s another newcomer to Wagner’s epic tetralogy who, incidentally, was a disciple of Götz Friedrich, a formidable and well-respected director and, indeed, a Ring superstar!
After a couple of performances next year, Herheim’s Ring ends its time at Deutsche Oper and Donald Runnicles takes his final bow after 17 years as general music director but starts a new job in Germany as chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic while also focusing on his American home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he’s music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival. Tcherniakov’s Ring also comes to an end at Staatsoper Berlin after its final two showings in the current season.
An interesting and compelling production, Tcherniakov pushes the boundaries of opera production (he always does!) and sets the scenario of his Ring in a research institute aptly named ESCHE (Experimental Scientific Centre for Human Evolution) appropriately forming an acronym of the German word for ‘ash-tree’ in which Wotan broke a holy bough to fashion his spear.
In his infinite wisdom, too, he savages Wagner’s libretto drifting miles away from the composer’s original intentions but, nevertheless, comes up with rewarding (but bizarre) production – but not for Wagner traditionalists, I’m afraid.
From an engineering point of view the set overall is cleverly constructed swallowing up the length, breadth and depth of Staatsoper’s vast stage either moving on a horizontal level highlighting the multiple-room conurbation of the research centre or seen vertically apropos the scenes of Nibelheim and Valhalla and rotating in respect of such smaller scenes as Hunding’s house and so forth.
A strong and formidable cast, headed by Michael Volle in the pivotal role of Wotan, offers this production great spirit and momentum. What a performer! His stagecraft is paramount while Volle harbours a lovely rich-sounding baritone voice and, as boss of ESCHE, he’s Master of the Universe to coin a Tom Wolfe phrase, firmly in control as befitting his godly status.
He thirsts for knowledge and power by garnering scientific data (his ‘gold’ so to speak) through an elaborate and detailed assortment of experiments surrounding the human mind and its behavioural patterns which resurrects in my mind the human medical experiments carried out on prisoners of the Third Reich in Nazi concentration camps.
The mighty Rhine drifts miles away in this production and when one first come across the Rhinemaidens (Woglinde: Evelin Novak; Wellgunde: Natalia Skrycha; Floßhilde: Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein) they’re either further away from their usual habitat reimagined by Tcherniakov as white-coated lab assistants working in the stress lab as part of ESCHE’s research team.
But they still get up to their old tricks in teasing Alberich – the role so handsomely sung and, indeed, well-acted by Jochen Schmeckenbecher – who’s wired up all over the show with sensors to his head and strapped down to a medical-type reclining-padded chair receiving experimental treatment by a fluorescent liquid being injected into his brain. I should imagine it was highlighting the workings of the central nervous system and the powers thereof. A group of students watch the proceedings close by through a video link created by Alexey Poluboyarinov.
Under tremendous strain and boiling over with frustration, Alberich blows his top, breaks loose from the stress lab in an avalanche of vandalism and in riotous mood (shades of Frank Castorf here) grabs as much data that he can manage in his hurried and confused state buzzing off leaving the lab staff in wonderment and utter despair in respect of the loss of their work. A brilliant scene it certainly set the overall tone and stamped the credentials, I feel, of Tcherniakov’s carefully planned Ring.
Captivating stuff all the way especially the journey to Nibelheim which certainly put to the test the theatre’s hi-tech hydraulic-lifting system. The whole set moved slowly and gently into place without a hitch. Phew! And a nice amusing touch to the overall scene witnesses Wotan taking the ‘elevator’ to Nibelheim in tow with his fiery sidekick, Loge, the role so cunningly played by Sebastian Kohlhepp fashionably dressed and adorned with ‘shades’ and behaving in his usual offbeat shady way.
And when the deuce eventually catches up with Alberich he’s furiously cracking the whip of his team of neurotically charged scientific researchers in his underground den. And to trick the poisoned dwarf out of his ‘stolen treasure’ by utilising the magical properties of the Tarnhelm to turn him into a dragon or a toad was, simply, left to one’s imagination.
There’s no magic helmet, dragon or toad whatsoever, just the idea of these so-called creatures swimming about in Alberich’s confused and mindless head. The scene, in fact, was not too dissimilar to that portrayed by Valentin Schwarz in his Bayreuth Ring. However, I think it fared better here. It ended calamitously and Alberich was quietly removed to the research centre by a couple of white-coated lab staff while cursing the ground he stood on and cursing his own stupidity.
The cast of this production just grew and grew with Wotan’s long-suffering and loyal wife, Fricka, gracefully portrayed by Claudia Mahnke, having none of her husband’s nonsense and seemingly daft ideas. She put in a commanding and convincing performance that leaped out into the auditorium while her ill-fated sister, Freia, sung by Sonja Herranen, brought a nervousness to the role that caused the necessary friction between Fricka and Wotan over the ransom money demanded by the giants as payment for building Valhalla.
The deuce playing the giants prove more than their worth – no pun intended! Fafner (Peter Rose) got the better of his greedy and grasping brother, Fasolt (Mika Kares) by the help of a handgun. Another bullet to the head and another nod to Frank Castorf while Anna Kissjudit delivers an impeccable performance as Erda with Stephan Rügamer portraying so humbly Alberich’s down-trodden brother, Mime. Of the more junior roles, the South African-born tenor, Siyabonga Maqungo, is heard to good effect as Froh while Roman Trekel makes a strong impression in the companion role of Donner.
Providing an idyllic setting for the Gods magical journey to Valhalla, the courtyard of ESCHE did the trick in more ways than one. All the heavenly-bound passengers are found sitting comfy on circular benches surrounding a mature flowering tree (World Ash Tree?) one of the very few hints of Nature to be seen in the whole of this Ring, lapping up and thoroughly enjoying the Donner & Froh magic show (for one night only!) conjuring up an odd assortment of pyrotechnical wizardry and other such goings-on to the amusement of all.
For instance, Donner’s raging away armed with his sledgehammer clearing thunderous storm clouds with each gallant knock having their effect while Froh, his more timidly-behaved brother, holds his special guests in the palm of his hand performing the multi-coloured handkerchief illusion which conveniently fuses together to form one long multi-coloured silk scarf representing the rainbow bridge – the gateway to Valhalla. Crafty Loge lurks in the realm of the shadows, the secret world he favours, lights up a fag and decides the lofty heights of Valhalla are not for him.
Returning to Guy Cassiers’ Ring (Staatsoper Berlin, 2010-13), I well remember Simon O’Neill and Anja Kampe stamping their authority on the demanding roles of Siegmund and Sieglinde in Die Walküre therefore I found it delightful to witness Kampe returning to the Ring in the more superior role of Brünnhilde. For sure, a seasoned and spirited performer, she joyfully sang (and acted) this most demanding of Wagnerian roles with such consummate ease.
Lithuanian soprano, Vida Miknevičiūtė (a relatively new girl on the Wagnerian stage for me) proves a spirited (and athletic) performer in the role of Sieglinde working in tandem with American heldentenor, Eric Cutler, as Siegmund, her long-lost brother. The beast of their respective lives, Hunding, fell to Finnish bass, Mika Kares, whose deep-sonorous voice alone shook the foundations of his house let alone those around him while being attired in a military-style outfit (courtesy of Elena Zaytseva) it gave him an air of superiority over his fellow (and unwanted) guest. In fact, Zaytseva designed a good wardrobe that fitted so well all the characters in this cycle while Gleb Filshtinsky’s lighting scenario hit the mark, too.
A strange quirk to this production (and there were many!) points to the fact that Hunding and Siegmund survive the hunt. Generally, Hunding kills Siegmund and Wotan strikes him down immediately using the magic properties of his spear. Confusingly, to any Ring newcomer, the libretto tells one story and Tcherniakov tells another. That’s the conundrum!
And the Fallen Heroes destined for Valhalla are clearly depicted by their mugshots and personal data created in a passport-type format flashed up regularly on a wide-angled video screen housed in ESCHE’s lecture theatre which also provides the setting for the scene featuring the famous Ride of the Valkyies. Hoyotoho!
As for Brünnhilde’s punishment over her disobedient behaviour towards Wotan in respect of the feud between Hunding and Siegmund, her banishment became a low-key affair employing no ceremonial procedure or burning rock as is the norm. However, inventive, independent as ever, the Warrior Maiden creates a circle of wooden chairs nabbed from ESCHE’s lecture theatre, daubs the backs of them with a red marker – and that’s the nearest you get to a flame.
Continuing this charade, she then re-enacts a dance-like ‘fire’ sequence within the circle stretching her arms and fingertips to the limit imitating flickering flames. When they subside, Wotan gently leads her from the circle to stand alone on a black-draped bare stage.
Nervously, she half turns towards the audience before being collected by men in white suits to be escorted to the research centre’s sleep lab where she’s kept under constant surveillance (a nod to DDR interference here) in a glass-covered room.
Covered by a sheet of silver foil by Wotan, she forms part of ESCHE’s overall experiment focusing on the workings of one’s inner-self and, in all probability, the subconscious mind, free, of course, from the stresses and strains of daily life during sleep. By her side is a small plastic toy that is none other than her loyal steed, Grane. The waiting game begins.
And it begins in Siegfried, the third instalment of the Ring, which sees scruffily dressed Mime working at full stretch to keep Siegfried on side. We first meet this ‘heroic’ character of the Ring, the role so handsomely sung by Austrian heldentenor, Andreas Schager, bored stiff hearing Mime whining on and on about the ‘motherly’ role he undertook in bringing him up. As befitting his naïveté, Siegfried acts in a juvenile and boorish way turned out as an over-enthusiastic backpacker wearing a light-blue tracksuit.
By now, Wotan and Alberich are seen as bad-tempered and crotchety old duffers. Wotan’s propped up by a walking-stick, Alberich’s struggling on a Zimmer and Mime’s not doing so well either – the trappings of old age, eh!
However, with youth and adventure on his side, Siegfried gets down to business forging and shaping Nothung on Mime’s kitchen table while also prancing about with a sledgehammer smashing to smithereens such old childhood dreams as his Lego collection (a scientific conception, mind you!) and practically everything else he could lay his hands on found in the makeshift ‘smithy’. Donner would have been jealous. The scene’s reminiscent of a show ending by the progressive rock band, The Who, renowned for smashing and destroying their instruments at the end of a gig.
Searching for his bride-to-be, Siegfried eventually finds her at the sleep lab of ESCHE, an excellent setting, I felt, for Brünnhilde’s lying-in-state. Getting to her posed a problem, though, as poor old Siegfried incurs many interruptions and slimy characters along the way – one being Fafner. He seems to have lost his marbles after greedily stuffing his mind too full of knowledge that made him incapable of enjoying the fruits of his ill-gotten gains.
He appears straitjacketed and bound but soon finds his dead end with bumptious old Mime next on Siegfried’s list. His saving grace, Der Waldvogel, represented by a small plastic hand toy operated by a white-coated lab assistant, Kathrin Zukowski, utilised featherlight movement to imitate a bird in flight thereby guiding the fearless young Siegfried to Brünnhilde.
And in the last scene both Anja Kampe and Andreas Schager come together as one delivering a superb and heart-throbbing ending. ‘Wonder Girl’ performs brilliantly Brünnhilde’s ‘Big Sleep’ number delivering a dramatic and soulful reading of ‘Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht!’ while ‘Wonder Boy’, rather bemused by the goings-on around him, casually stands beside her with hands stuffed in his tracksuit pockets looking somewhat bewildered.
Then the famed couple, solemnly declaring their eternal love for each other, put all their vocal energy into a majestic rendering of that great and telling number ‘Leuchtende Liebe, Lachender Tod’ (Radiant Love, Laughing Death) in a stoic and telling performance that favoured a packed and appreciative house.
When one arrives at Götterdämmerung the Norms (Noa Beinart, Kristina Stanek and Anna Samuil) are seen hobbling about fudging in their handbags dressed in the comfy style of old grannies bent over and crippled with arthritis and, like Wotan, aided by walking-sticks. There’s no evidence of them weaving the rope of destiny recalling the days of Wotan’s reign and predicting the fall of Valhalla. But as they enjoy afternoon tea in Siegfried and Brünnhilde’s well-furnished house, a crash of the bone-china cups (hope they were not Meissen!) indicates the break of the rope thus culminating in the end of their wisdom.
If in Das Rheingold Wotan thirsts for knowledge and power by garnering scientific data in the pursuit of his ‘golden dream’, in Götterdämmerung Tcherniakov elevates the drama to a higher level by introducing a ring, the literal object of Hagen’s desire in stark contrast to Brünnhilde who relishes it as a true symbol of fidelity.
And one of my favourite scenes in the whole of the Ring falls in Götterdämmerung witnessing Waltraute, the tender and caring Valkyrie and bosom friend of Brünnhilde, telling her of the dangers of keeping the ring while urging her to return it to the Rhinemaidens for safekeeping and to end the dreaded Nibeling curse. Her plea fell on deaf ears. A truly passionate scene, Russian mezzo-soprano, Marina Prudenskaya, sang the part with true devotion and conviction.
When Hagen (the role so strongly and menacingly sung by Mika Kares) grabs the momentum taking over as boss of ESCHE from Wotan, he changes its pace and ways of working and, indeed, changes the whole look and layout of the place. For instance, he introduces a gymnasium to keep the staff fit and well with Siegfried and Gunther (Lauri Vasar) sportily kitted out as members of the centre’s basketball team while Gunther’s sister, Gutrune, flamboyantly sung by Clara Nadeshdin, is portrayed in a carefree and whirlwind manner as a glam-looking movie star being manipulated by Hagen along with her weak-minded and dithering-looking brother.
The brutal killing of Siegfried actually takes place in the gym by Hagen utilising the coloured-spiked team flag as his chosen weapon, thirsting more than ever to get his hands on the ring. The eponymous hero is reverently laid out in the stress lab (a perfect place!) thus providing one of the greatest scenes of this production inasmuch as during the playing of Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Brünnhilde and a large core of mourners slowly gathers to keep a vigil. A deeply thoughtful and precious moment, the scene resembles a ‘living picture’ such as a Dutch Old Master painting, a most notable example of this style is The Night Watch by Rembrandt hanging in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Tcherniakov’s ending follows the overall pattern of his rationale of this production therefore he axes the grand and opulent flaming procession usually associated with Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and it was left to the orchestra who with Thielemann driving them on paint their own picture of this most moving, delicate and rewarding scene.
Denouncing the Gods for their guilt in Siegfried’s death, Brünnhilde takes the ring (her inheritance) from her husband’s hand and throws it away – presumably in the Rhine! Full of guilt, Hagen quietly leaves the research centre to live another day in the hope, maybe, of redeeming himself for his wrongdoing. The idea of ‘redemption’, of course, lies at the very heart of Wagner’s philosophy.
Brünnhilde follows Hagen from the centre. The earth goddess, Erda, waves her goodbye by utilising the wings of a toy bird. But for Brünnhilde it’s goodbye to all that reference, in my thinking, Robert Graves’ 1929 autobiography, Good-Bye to All That, pointing to the passing of the Old Order (and a new beginning) following the cataclysm of the First World War.
The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who had an ambivalent relationship with Richard Wagner, said: ‘Life is worth living, says art, the beautiful temptress; life is worth knowing, says science.’ I think that this philosophical statement helps to sum up Dmitri Tcherniakov’s take on the Ring.
Interestingly, too, Tcherniakov projects on screen at the very end of Götterdämmerung Wagner’s Schopenhauer-influenced version of the Immolation Scene which, in fact, he never used. It describes the fleeing of Brünnhilde from the visionary world of delusion while witnessing the end of the world. The text comes from the so-called ‘Schopenhauer Schluss’ from Götterdämmerung entitled ‘Siegfried’s Death’ published in Wagner’s Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (Collected Writings and Poetry) in 1872. The quoted version dates from 1856.
Without a shadow of doubt, Staatskapelle Berlin, under Christian Thielemann, did a fine job in the pit as one would expect from such a well-established orchestra so well drilled in the works of Wagner while Thielemann (a great statesman for Wagner) found the exact balance between the pit and the stage – and that’s no mean thing!
And in the big production numbers such as The Ride of the Valkyries and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey not forgetting, of course, Brünnhilde’s famous Immolation Scene – widely regarded as one of Wagner’s greatest achievements – Maestro Thielemann and his charges pulled out all stops delivering a thrilling account of these grand pieces to audience delight.
For Tcherniakov, the Ring was an experiment and like all experiments some things didn’t work; for the audience it was an experience but left some feeling rather perplexed by its non-traditional values; for Thielemann it was a triumph. Full stop!
CREATIVE TEAM
- Conductor: Christian Thielemann
- Director: Dmitri Tcherniakov
- Set designer: Lilli Fischer (Das Rheingold / Götterdämmerung); Thorsten Cölle (Die Walküre / Siegfried)
- Costume designer: Elena Zaytseva
- Lighting designer: Gleb Filshtinsky
- Video designer: Alexey Poluboyarinov
DAS RHEINGOLD
- Wotan: Michael Volle
- Donner: Roman Trekel
- Froh: Siyabonga Maqungo
- Loge: Sebastian Kohlhepp
- Fricka: Claudia Mahnke
- Freia: Sonja Herranen
- Erda: Anna Kissjudit
- Alberich: Jochen Schmeckenbecher
- Mime: Stephan Rügamer
- Fasolt: Mika Kares
- Fafner: Peter Rose
- Woglinde: Evelin Novak
- Wellgunde: Natalia Skrycka
- Floßhilde: Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein
- Staatskapelle Berlin
DIE WALKÜRE
- Siegmund: Eric Cutler
- Sieglinde: Vida Miknevičiūtė
- Hunding: Mika Kares
- Wotan: Michael Volle
- Brünnhilde: Anja Kampe
- Fricka: Claudia Mahnke
- Gerhilde: Clara Nadeshdin
- Helmwige: Sonja Herranen
- Waltraute: Michal Doron
- Schwertleite: Anna Kissjudit
- Ortlinde: Anna Samuil
- Siegrune: Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein
- Grimgerde: Marina Prudenskaya
- Roßweiße: Kristina Stanek
- Staatskapelle Berlin
SIEGFRIED
- Siegfried: Andreas Schager
- Mime: Stephan Rügamer
- Der Wanderer: Michael Volle
- Alberich: Jochen Schmeckenbecher
- Fafner: Peter Rose
- Erda: Anna Kissjudit
- Brünnhilde: Anja Kampe
- Der Waldvogel: Kathrin Zukowski
- Staatskapelle Berlin
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
- Siegfried: Andreas Schager
- Gunther: Lauri Vasar
- Alberich: Johannes Martin Kränzle
- Hagen: Mika Kares
- Brünnhilde: Anja Kampe
- Gutrune: Clara Nadeshdin
- Waltraute: Marina Prudenskaya
- Erste Norn: Anna Kissjudit
- Zweite Norn: Kristina Stanek
- Dritte Norn: Daniela Köhler
- Woglinde: Evelin Novak
- Wellgunde: Natalia Skrycka
- Floßhilde: Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein
- cErda (stumm): Anna Kissjudit
- Staatsopernchor (director: Martin Wright)
- Staatskapelle Berlin
Photos by Monika Rittershaus, courtesy Staatsoper Berlin
