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Excerpt from
article - 'Gottdämmerung' and the ambiguity of a 'grüner ring'
Since the EU Commission on Climate Change was assembled in the days immediately prior to the opera's opening night, and its findings are always 'news' to European Citizenry, the fact that there is a coincidence between what Carsen said and what Budeskanzlerin Angela Merkel said and what the Kölner Stadt Unzeiger reported, cannot be ascribed to manipulative promotional marketing. It’s rather an actuality that is dire. Both the ideas Carsen put forward (it got his Ring dubbed the 'Grüner Ring' - Green Ring) and what Budeskanzlerin Angela Merkel has said are valid erzatz formulations of a certain perspective on reality and it does in a way concern the 'happiness of humanity' on an immediate timescale (and of the animals and plants as well) and has merit in a present day context. But in relation to Wagner's 'Ring des Niebelungen' the issue might be a bit overstretched. The point that matters (and not so easy to confirm) when talking about a 'Grüner Wagnerian Ring' is to what extent Richard Wagner was concerned with nature conservation, ozone pollution and energy use and output when he composed the 'Ring des Niebelungen'. A 'Grüner Ring' -- is this an applicable term for a new production of Wagner's work? Doesn't the mere concept of it makes of the 'Ring des Niebelungen' an apocalyptical prophecy misguiding the spectators and listeners into believing Wagner himself was an apocalyptical figure preaching the downfall of industrialists (and gods)? Or were his references to the pollution of the Rhein, the 'stealing of the gold' (by Alberich, the horizontalist with little awareness of transcendental thought), 'the casting of a powerful object, a ring' and the 'corruptive behaviour of the higher classes' (Wotan and his household) meant as a search for interior motives in his own life concerning vertical growth and the possible discovery of the mentioned transcedental bliss of awareness? Has Wagner's trilogy with Vorabbond, Das Rheingold überhaubt anthing to do with the flat and easy to understand notion that if you dirty a river, the fish in it will die (and the Rhein fairies watching over the 'gold' will be left robbed and poor)? There is much ambiguity in pursuing a 'Grüner Ring' as a logo for 'The Ring des Niebelungen' and not enough good reasoning in pushing this Carsen and Kinmonth production of Wagner's Ring as a 'Grüner Ring'. The concept itself sounds scythish and it is too popular. It misses much dimension too and may reduce the production to a kind of protest manifestation. And, what is worse, it has really the same soft sootiness of a virtuality that Frau Budeskanzlerin Angela Merkel has in mind when she has a 'fear' for the 'unhappiness of humanity'. It’s just hype-ish, vague and leads to controversy. The core concept in Wagner's Opera and the possibility of myth-working and myth-thinking within the own psyche gets blurred. And coming to terms with it, it won't lead to self-introspection and a new perspective on the destructive forces of the 'within' that ruin the 'happiness of humanity' for which Wagner's opera becomes, in effect, a 'new arena' in which awareness begins a battle with horizontally political thought. The 'Ring des Niebelungen' isn't 'grün' at all, it's rather a school - and for that matter, a school of a different order wanting to teach its spectator transcendental awareness. But also, yes, it's only an Opera and the Carsen and Kinmonth production is of a brilliance that is exhilarating to the soul. Many of the spectators that came from all over Germany and neighbouring countries in their carbon dioxide emission cars and wearing their lovely garments, the manufacturing of which helped pollute the 'Umwelt', were absolutely stunned with the performance. I was one
of them! Bravo to Carsen and Kinmonth! Argo Spier,
Opera Pages
Excerpt from
article - New Wagnerian Sanctuary in the ‘Low Lands’ Lohengrin The production of Lohengrin in Teateraachen, which is only some 80km away from the Kölner Oper in Köln, makes it the third Opera House to enter the Wagnerian arena that has been developing in this part of Europe over the past three years. The bigger Opera Houses in the vicinity, the Kölner Opera House and those in Belgium and Gent/Antwerp, have initiated Wagner’s operas on a grander scale since 2004. First the Kölner Oper began with ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’, widely spoken of now as the Carsen and Kinmonth production. In 2006 the Gent/Antwerp Opera House in Flaenders, Belgium opened with the avant-garde Ivo Van Hove production of the same opera. The success enjoyed by both Houses is proof of
managerial foresight; and the intimate contact between the Operas and
their growing audiences. Wagner is a ‘hot topic', and with this
year’s full house productions in both of these two bigger Opera
Houses one can feel an even greater stirring of energy and excitement.
This might be the birth of a new Wagnerian Sanctuary for believers, right
in the centre where the Low Lands meet. Argo Spier, Opera Pages
Excerpt
from article - The Carson and Kinmonth production of 'Der Ring des Niebelungen'
(Köln, Germany) versus the production of Ivo Van Hove (Gent, Belgium).
Van Hove’s ‘Ring’
makes use of very modern stage techniques and exceptional effects. With
its use of high voltage lighting, contrasts with bright neon splashes
opposing dark eerie spot-lighted corners, laser beams and enormous moving
steel and glass cubes and pillars, etc., it scored higher in this rank
than the Carson and Kinmonth production in Köln. The focus of the
production was on ‘realism’ and modern definition. From the
onset, the spectator relived in ‘Vorabond, Das Rheingold 2006’
and ‘Walküre 2007’, real danger-provoking illusion and
apocalyptical collapse. The events in world history in recent times, and
images seen on CNN and other sensation-seeking TV channels, became a reality
on an illusionary stage. Ivo Van Hove’s ‘New Brave World of
Myth’ had a touch of a 9/11 New York aftermath. The spectator was
IN ground zero. Other remarkable aspects of the production aided the spectator in his journey with Ivo Van Hove, his subtle shift in the definition of symbols, par example. In Carson and Kinmonth's production Van Hove replaced the sword, 'real', hard, sharp and made of steel, with a most provocative and creative idea: the phallic shape got changed into that of a flat square of plastic, the size of half a cigarette packet; namely, it is a silicon chip. This chip with its archetypical tetrakis (4 corners, feminine) oozed, however, the same virile masculine power as the wondrous sword in the Wandering Myths Wagner consolidated to form the 'Ring de Nibelungen' and in Carson and Kinmonth's production. It contained enough data to produce the mightiest WMD ever seen on our Blue Planet, now threatened with Global Warming as revealed by Al Gore's very popular documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' that ran in the Gent Downtown at the same time as Van Hove's 'Walkure' *** The concept 'Untergang der Welt' has been 'exposed' by Ivo Van Hove as the modern form of manipulative systems of management that had its foundation in the 16th Century, two hundred years before Wagner, in Protestant ideas concerning the valorisation of time given by God. And for Ivo Van Hove, moral corruption, with its social symptoms such as muggings, drive-by shootings, callous and cowardly 'religious' assaults and other senseless violence, portrays the 'new' dynamo of the world in which Gottdämmerung reigns, the evaporation of the potent in human society. This is paramount in Wagner's score too, and often thought of as the core of Wagnerian thought. The emphasis in Casen and Kinmoth's production underscores the validity of this perception, with the result that the age-old debate concerning 'Untergang' and fatal destiny gets stoked to life yet again.
Argo Spier, Opera Pages
Excerpt from
article - 'Untergang' in the Carsen and Kinmonth production of 'Ring an
2-Tagen', Köln Oper. Carsen and Kinmonth’s production of ‘Untergang’
in Köln zaps into the age-old dispute concerning the role of fate
in human and god-relationships, refusing both interpretive and expansive
perspectives in its 'non-ironised' version. On the first level it seems
a mute and silent production, but on various other levels it is a far
more ‘dangerous’ production than Ivo Van Hove’s in Gent.
The absolute cataclysmic disaster of the ‘Dämmerung of the
gods’ becomes eerily real in it. There is nothing mankind can do
to avert the destruction of his own habitat. The ‘Ausgang Punkt’
(point of departure) for Carsen and Kinmonth is that ‘Wagner ‘soll
nicht ironisiert werden’. He must be taken at his ‘word’
and his vision of the collapse of the world, godheads and Valhalla, the
perfect paradise, is the only true orthodoxy. The crossover or metamorphosis
of Myth into reality in the production is to come about through orthodox
interpretation. Carsen and Kinmonth have made of ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’ a true story that delves deeply into the consciousness of the spectator. The desire to dub the production the ‘Grüner Ring’ is understandable, although this is a rather impoverished naivety that distracts some might argue. The destruction of our ‘Umwelt’ has already begun. It is the true story of how ‘present day’ global warming is exponentially caused by man, his industrialised society and his miraculous big tools. (The thong of the mentioned Fafner crane in ‘Siegfried’ fills a third of the stage!). The opera is a prophetic warning of what is happening and is going to happen in the immediate future, defeatist at that, but it is true! It isn’t a Myth anymore. (Leaving it there whether society should still be called ‘industrial’ or rather ‘silicone and virtual’.) The duo proved that the motor in mythical drama is um-bilingually connected to what lives in the collective, in the ‘Volkergedanken’ of the unconscious. And with ‘Ring an 2-Tagen 2007’ the connection is made - with tremendous success. This ‘special connected communication’ was almost tangible and the ‘letting speak’ of the Wandering Myths in the way Wagner himself had spoken them in his unified grand Germanic epos has reaped its reward and it ticked off the score in the arena, scoring higher than the production by the Vlaamse Opera in Gent, Belgium. ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen – Ring an 2-Tagen’ had a standing ovation of 20 minutes and 8 curtain calls, while that wasn’t the case with Ivo Van Hove’s ‘Walküre’. That proves the point, any serious operagoer will agree. Both ‘Rings’ are of such stature and
the enthusiasm generated at both locations so immense that the visiting
and experiencing spectator will in the end find it has been imperative
to attend both. The Kölner Oper in Köln and the Vlaamse Opera
in Gent well deserve all the buzz. The Operas will, however, have to consider
prolonging their time schedules in running the ‘Ring’ lest
situations such as the one in Bayreuth manifest. It is whispered in the
‘insider’s corridor’ that waiting lists for Bayreuth
have lengthened … to 10 years booking in advance. This doesn’t
diminish, but accentuates, the fact that the ‘New Wagnerian Sanctuary
in the Low Lands’ has considerable growth potential. Argo Spier, Opera Pages Excerpt from
article - Lohengrin – a well thought out choice for Teateraachen With its entry too into the Wagnerian arena, Teateraachen seems to have grasped the growth potential of a Wagnerian Sanctury in the Low Lands and wants to add a plus value to it as well as capitalize on the buzz. Its enthusiastic proclamation of its appearance on the scene with ‘Wagner wieder in Aachen’ (Wagner once again in Aachen), states its case. Its jubilant cry can also be taken as a firm territorial claim, implying that more is to come from ‘Aachen’ in the future. With its campaign, it reveals its intentions, and with the choice of ‘Lohengrin’ as its first Wagner opera in 10 years, Wagner’s 6th and an opera with its setting in Antwerp, it reaches out in an almost symbolic way to the Vlaamse Opera in Belgium. Antwerp (150km from the city) is one of the major locations of the Vlaamse Opera that has booked success with their Wagner production. It also connects to Köln (80km from it), which recently produced the ‘Ring’. Some might say this is a cheap flirtation, but both Aachen and Antwerp lie on the banks of rivers of vital importance to the survival of these towns as well: Aachen on the Rhein and Antwerp on the Schelde. If one considers other aspects of Teateraachen's choice for ‘Lohengrin’, a well-rehearsed strategy can be discerned. Teateraachen doesn’t enter as competitor to either Köln or to the Vlaamse Opera, but as complimentor to their programs. It is obvious that another ‘Ring’ in the Low Lands would have had a catastrophic effect on both of the two existing ‘Rings’ and for Teateraachen as well, creating over-kill and duplication. No, Teateraachen wanted its territory to be safely out on the periphery with its choice of ‘Lohengrin’. And this space on the periphery is the ‘grey area’ in Wagner’s oeuvre, the history-cum-myth, problematic and romantic. The choice of ‘Lohengrin’ communicates that Teateraachen thinks it can contribute something else to a Sanctuary in the Low Lands and become a ‘specialist’ in it. The future is wide open to produce another Wagner opera linked to ‘Lohengrin’, namely ‘The Flying Dutchman’. Both of those operas have a similar unearthliness in their tone and both are occupied with a focus on secrecy, mysteriousness; further, both have a hero who comes from ‘over the water’ and entertain lovers who see mirages and have fatal destinies. ‘The Flying Dutchman’, although not fully clothed in history-cum-myth, has references that would make it the perfect choice after ‘Lohengrin’. And, should anything go wrong, Teateraachen could ob out of the arena without fear of losing face. A stand-alone production of ‘Lohengrin’ this season is a perfect contribution; a duet, ‘Lohengrin’ this season and ‘The Flying Dutchman’ next season, is perfect too. There would be congruity in the effort and these two would be a perfect unit of Wagnerian opera which would be much appreciated by spectators and Wagner lovers. If the Opera stops then, only good memories will remain. The strategy is brilliant – Teateraachen can deliver a beautiful and tight and congruent ‘study’ of one specific aspect of Wagner’s operas. The scope is there. The stakes nevertheless are high. And true Wagnerian ‘believers’ will watch the developments with Argus' eyes. Even the production of Lohengrin itself is under heavy pressure, this due to the history-cum-myth aspect of it and the link the opera has with ‘The Flying Dutchman’. To name only three issues that will involve scrutiny – these are the ‘holiness’ of the character Lohengrin, the opera’s ending and the opera’s ties with the ‘Flying Dutchman’. With the fierce competition of ‘Lohingrin’ in Paris, Teateraachen is claiming an authoritative voice in the arena. (Lohengrin is ‘hype’ in Paris momentarily – ironically it was a disaster when Wagner himself directed and produced it the first time there. And Paris is only 1 and a half hour’s train ride with TGV from Brussels and some 3 hours from Köln). It is expected that both producer and singer will be under a lot of strain to make this production a perfect one. The daring move to enter the arena deserves therefore
the highest compliment and the Teateraachen should be embraced as a brave
little David engaging a Goliath. Teateraachen is THE one Opera that could
combine myth and history and claim a permanent space in the Sanctuary
of the Low Lands … but the consolation is that Wagner too had been
under a lot of stress when he produced it in Paris … and now has
won his definite seat in the Opera National de Paris … with ‘Lohengrin’.
This is the ONE chance of Teateraachen to win its seat in the Sanctuary. Argo Spier, Opera Pages |