| Lancette Arts Journal Founded in 2000 |
Music - Live Performances From our Archives |
April 2004 |
Die Walküre runs at the Hummingbird Centre until April 23, 2004
By Alidë Kohlhaas
No other opera is as cliché ridden as Richard Wagner's Die Walküre, but do not expect to see any of the usual clichés in the phenomenal production presently being presented by the Canadian Opera Company (COC). Its superpower production team created a Walküre that is both daring and yet restrained, that is exciting, powerful and ultimately deeply touching.
From the first moments of the opening overture, with its driving beat that ebbs and flows and so draws you into the events that are to unfold before your eyes, it became clear that we were in for an exciting evening. The COC Orchestra executed itself superbly under the direction of maestro Richard Bradshaw. That overture, if played right, signals that the music director knows his stuff, and Bradshaw obviously does, even when hindered by the faulty acoustics of the Hummingbird Centre. But, of course, we all know that the next time Die Walküre makes its debut in Toronto, in September of 2006, it will be at the new opera house, and the sound will surely be magnificent, not just excellent.
As the curtain rose, David Levine's set, at that point almost hidden in deep shadows, revealed a world in turmoil. The set consists in part of huge metal scaffolding and catwalks with klieg lights attached to them, though not burning, except for one very piercingly bright light; the stage floor is covered with large tiles, many uprooted and scattered about, in the centre of which stands the stump of a huge ash tree, its felled . . .
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