Seigfried is arguably the most difficult of the four Ring operas to stage successfully. Professor Lees told us it was the hardest for Wagner to write and he famously took a twelve year break from doing so. It's also the hardest to watch at the start as you don't like either of the characters in the first scene - the sniveling Mime and the boorish … [Read more...] about Truly Heroic – Seigfried in Melbourne
Music
Pitch Perfect
Having been a little underwhelmed by Das Rheingold, I really loved Die Walkure - the second opera in the Melbourne Ring cycle. It may well be, as Heath Lees suggested in our morning lecture, that this is the best opera in the cycle and possibly the best opera of all time! In any event it was a wonderful show. From our place in the lofty heights, we … [Read more...] about Pitch Perfect
Too Many Suits
Long anticipated. High expectations. We finally took our seats at the Melbourne Arts Centre at a Melbourne Ring cycle last night. On Melbourne's hottest November night in a hundred years. Das Rheingold. Our seats were up high - very high - which gives this personal review a particular edge. Suffice to say they weren't the best seats in the house … [Read more...] about Too Many Suits
Siegfried
Saw a filmed performance of Richard Wagner's Siegfried at the Nova on Sunday. The Metropolitan Opera's 2011 production. Fell in love with Siegfried for the first time. This after seeing the two Adelaide Ring Cycles. American Edward Cook as Siegfried in 1998 and Canadian Gary Ridout in 2004. A niggling suspicion that one of those may have been … [Read more...] about Siegfried
Folk Finale
Well I have been off to my final Port Fairy Folk Festival. For a little while at least. We started when our son and his friend were in Year 7. They both completed their first year of university last year and mine is preparing for the Grand Tour of old Europe. So eight years later I am calling it quits. We camped the first year, but that was not … [Read more...] about Folk Finale