In Spite of Difficulties a Glorious Ring at the Semperoper in Dresden
Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen
Dresdener Staatsoper at the Semperoper
March 10, 12, 14, and 17, 2010
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden,
conducted by Jonas Alber, John Fiore, and Asher Fisch Stage direction - Willy Decker
Stage design - Wolfgang Gussmann
Costume design - Wolfgang Gussmann and Frauke Schernau
Dramaturgy - Hella Bartnig, Klaus Bertisch
This full realization of the Ring as drama became the unifying principle of the production, as it was perhaps meant to be, but unified musical direction was lacking—the greatest challenge the participants faced—since the Music Director of the Staatskapelle, Fabio Luisi, who is now basking in adulation in New York—justifiably, as it would seem from his sensitive reading of Berg’s Lulu—summarily cancelled his engagements with the orchestra, following a set-to with the Intendant, Gerd Uecker. (We are interested in music drama here, and this is not the place to tell this unpleasant story.) In the end, Luisi was not greatly missed, although the most significant shortcomings of the Ring as a whole stemmed from the weaknesses of one of the three conductors who took over the Maestro’s responsibilities. On the contrary, the audience had ample reason to rejoice in Asher Fisch’s energetic and visceral Siegfried, and, even better, in the discovery of an extraordinary new talent, Jonas Alber, who, at 41, is little known outside Germany...
Read the full article on the Berkshire Review for the Arts!
Michael Miller

