AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: LA Opera's "Götterdämerung" to open April 3

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
This article was published today in the above papers.

Three norns spin their web in Los Angeles Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s “Götterdämerung,” which opens April 3 in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
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Los Angeles Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämerung
Opens April 3 at 1 p.m. Other performances: April 11, 17 and 25 at 1 p.m. April 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Preconcert lecture by James Conlon one hour before each performance
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; 1st St. and Grand Ave., Downtown Los Angeles
Tickets: $20-$260.
Information: 213/972-8001; www.laopera.com
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And so, at last, we have arrived at the climax of Los Angeles Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s massive operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Only it isn’t really the climax, merely the prelude.

The company’s production of Götterdämerung, the final segment in Wagner’s massive four-opera undertaking, will open April 3 at the highly civilized hour of 1:00 p.m. in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Seven weeks later, the company will mount the first of three complete Ring cycles, each of which will end with Götterdämerung.

That LA Opera has even gotten to this point is worthy of a Wagnerian drama in and of itself, quite a statement when you realize that it took Wagner 26 years of the 19th century to write the cycle, which lasts about 17 hours over four days.

More than a decade ago, Plácido Domingo, LA Opera’s general director, and his company dreamed of a Ring directed by George Lucas; it would come to be known as the Star Wars Ring. That dreamed died but, thanks to a $6 million gift from the Eli Broad Foundation as part of a $32 million budget (see the note at the end of this column), the hiring of Music Director James Conlon and the engagement of German director Achim Freyer, LAO began its homegrown Ring on Feb. 21, 2009 with Das Rheingold, followed by Die Walküre and Siegfried later in the year.

However, all three of those operas pale in comparison to Gotterdamerung (Twilight of the Gods), the longest and most complex of the four operas. “Every now and then,” wrote John Culshaw, producer of the first recorded Ring half a century ago, “the creative impulse of man suddenly erupts and produces something so extraordinary, so incalculable, that from the moment it comes into being the history of art, which is of course a mirror of the history of man, is irrevocably changed. The past no longer looks quite the same; and the future becomes a different anticipation. Such a work is Wagner’s ‘Ring,’ and such particularly is Götterdämerung”

If you haven’t seen any of the three previous Ring segments, fear not. In the first 45 minutes of Götterdämerung, three Norns (sometimes called “fates”) retell the story as a prologue to the first act. Then Siegfried and Brünnhilde come out of their mountain top bridal suite (or whatever emerges from Freyer’s fertile mind that symbolizes those accommodations) to greet the day.

That musical depiction, known as Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, is one of three great musical sections known to classical music lovers through orchestral concerts (the other two are Siegfried’s Funeral March and the climactic Immolation Scene). How Conlon and his orchestra handle these sections and, indeed, the entire five hours of music will be crucial to the production’s success. So, too, will be the lead singers, Linda Watson and John Treleaven.

Those who have seen Freyer’s previous three productions are split in their reactions. Nearly everyone either loves his concepts or hates them; there’s little middle ground. I’ve grown to appreciate both the concepts and the deep thinking that has gone into them but if you find otherwise, the glorious music justifies the trip downtown and the 5:20 (including three intermissions) spent in the theater. Dress comfortably.

How can you help your understanding of this mammoth work? The company has posted the opera’s synopsis and an article by Thomas May on its Web site (www.laopera.com). In addition, Conlon will present one of his articulate, albeit somewhat frenetic, pre-opera lectures that should not be missed even by those who know this opera well.

Those not planning to attend the opera can listen to the first preconcert lecture via telephone (218/396-4700 using access code 314902) — be forewarned: unless your phone plan provides free long distance, this is a toll call.
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NOTES ON LAO’S Ring LA Opera is understandably sensitive about everyone from critics to patrons using the $32 million price tag for its entire Ring. Mike Boehm, in his well-written article in today’s Los Angeles Times (LINK), lays out the company’s explanation and four things stand out to me:
1. If LAO had mounted new productions of four other operas (not an unusual number over a five-year period), it would have cost between $16 million and $20 million. Thus, by that standard of accounting, the Ring “cost” is $12 million to $16 million.
2. Some of the upfront costs may be amortized either when LAO restages the Ring, which the article says won’t happen before 2018, or if another company (probably in Europe) decides to use the production for its own purposes.
3. The per-performance cost for the LAO Ring is less than what San Francisco is expending for its Ring, which is a production shared with Washington National Opera.
4. Some of the technology used in LAO’s Ring will be put to use beginning with next season’s premiere of Daniel Catán’s adaptation of the film “Il Postino.”
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(c) Copyright 2010, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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