Wagner - Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Boulez) [DVD] [2005]

This staging of the Ring continues to provoke controversy and rightly so. One reason for this is the dramatic, transparent and startlingly un-pompous conducting by Pierre Boulez. He turns the Bayreuth festival orchestra into a lean mean machine that reflects, supports and propels the stage action. The difference between his tempos and those of Solti's studio recordings can be astonishing at times, and may come as a shock to some. However, since I approach this from the opposite extreme, I find Solti's tempos appallingly sluggish and undramatic at times.

Boulez' approach complements the staging by Patrice Chéreau, a genuine theatre director. He invests the action - which he shows to be partly rooted in Wagner's anti-capitalist, radical past - with an urgency and a refreshing Gallic wit that really engage the spectator. He is not afraid to play out some sections of Das Rheingold as a black comedy, while Götterdämmerung wryly references glitzy TV series like Dynasty. But of course that is precisely right for a mythological tale about the rival claims of power and love. I don't believe this approach needlessly degrades the gods and heroes: it merely foregrounds their fallibility. And to those who would call this a historically reductionist approach I can only say that this imaginative staging does retain a sense of wonder: the smoke machine works overtime, the giants are truly gigantic and sets like the Rock of the Valkyries are a joy to behold. Also, the roughly late 18th to early 20th century costumes have aged rather better than some fanciful costumes from other Ring productions that retrospectively look very much of their time.

The singers have been cast for both their singing and acting ability. I was particularly impressed by Donald McIntyre, a prime example of the modern opera singer who can also act. In the course of Das Rheingold his cunning and violent Wotan changes from a cocksure team captain into a brooding and introspective mogul, while he continues to evolve and surprise in the next two episodes. Gwyneth Jones, who creates a sensitive Brünnhilde, also displays great stage presence in a role that is really quite impossible to sing as written. In many ways the pivot of this story, she convincingly morphs from daddy's little girl into a disillusioned, tragic heroine. Heinz Zednik astounds during his turns as Loge and Mime, making his comic creations look effortless in the process. Peter Hofmann and Jeanine Altmeyer as Siegmund and Sieglinde are a visually arresting, physically credible pair of lovers. Matti Salminen with his amazingly deep and pitch perfect voice is an affectingly love-struck Fasolt and an ominous Hunding. It's a pity that the offspring of the dashing Volsung couple, Manfred Jung as Siegfried with a voice like a trumpet, is a bit wooden. However, his bluntness seems in accord with the dark view that this production takes of this 'bright hero', whose treatment of the dwarf Mime, his 'inferior' (oops!) foster father, is really quite offensive. And come to think of it: how much does this bright young thing accomplish in the end? This bleak view seems to resonate with Wagner's Schopenhauer-induced pessimism of his later years.

The supplemental 'Making of the Ring' disc shows how this production was video recorded in long takes that helped create a 'live' feel. Editing was also done live. The occasional glitches resulting from this pioneering process, such as wobbly camera moves and focus errors, are easily outweighed by many felicitous framings and close-ups of telling details (like one of the giants feeling up an indignant goddess Freia). Video director Brian Large, who shows himself to be extremely well versed in music, intensively consulted with Boulez and Chéreau, with impressive results. The documentary also covers the history of Bayreuth production methods, the role of the Wagner dynasty, orchestra and stage rehearsals and glimpses backstage as well as illuminating interviews with Boulez, Chéreau, McIntyre, Jones, Wolfgang Wagner and others.

Still, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the introductory programme elucidating the philosophy underlying the stage production that originally accompanied the TV broadcasts. A promotional leaflet included with each of the four operas gives the title of this bonus disc as 'Documentary & Introduction', so perhaps its inclusion was contemplated at some stage. This omission is only partly remedied by the booklets, which contain annotated synopses of each opera based on Chéreau's production, interspersed with comments by Chéreau and Boulez taken from 1977 Bayreuth programme notes.

Technical details: I don't have a dts home theatre, so I can't tell you how good it sounds in digital surround, but the stereo sound is still excellent. Picture quality is less satisfactory, however, especially in Das Rheingold. Many shots are disfigured by greenish vertical bars that are made even more prominent by the grey tones of the Walhalla set design. This problem disappears as the cycle progresses, although another one - green and red contours or 'shadows' - persists. (Does the video tape from 1979 and 1980 show its age or is this an unfortunate side effect of PAL to NTSC conversion with a view to creating one dvd edition for all regions?) A considerable improvement on the deleted 7-disc set on Philips - which appears to have suffered from the same problem - is the wider range of subtitles, now including Wagner's original German in addition to English, French, Spanish and Chinese translations. However, their timing is a bit erratic. The so-called bonuses are just ads for other Deutsche Grammophon dvds.

Nevertheless, this fascinating set will be enjoyed by open-minded opera lovers who feel that the Ring is a work of music theatre that deserves to be treated as such.