The «Ring» is a mirror
Interview |
Performances of Richard Wagner's tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen are considered special highlights of the opera calendar. This magnificently, all-encompassing work, which many regard as the most important in the music theater repertoire, is a tale of gods and mortals, of love and unbridgled greed, of will and power.
The tenor Stephen Gould once remarked that after performing Siegfried he felt like he'd been in a car crash. Can you relate to that feeling, apllied to the Ring as a whole?
Pablo Heras-Casado (PHC): It's exactly the same for a conductor. I know no other work that is in any way comparable with the Ring. There is no other opera, no symphony, simply nothing. And I'm not only referring to the scale of the entire construct: it's not just a matter of the strenght you need, the work is demanding on all levels. There is a physical challenge, a mental one, a spiritual one and so on. The Ring des Nibelungen simply cannot be compared with anything in music literature.
Michael Volle (MV): Yes, obviously, many of these roles have great demands. If I think of the Wotan in Walküre, for example: as Pablo said, he's very exhausting not just vocally, but also mentally and emotionally - the most challenging of the three Wotan/Wanderer characters. Whereas in Rheingold is largely a matter of “concentrated conversational singing”, the monologues in the Walküre, but also the big duets, are enormously demanding. Another complexity of the three operas lies in the fact that they are so different. So you have to be prepared for different things. When you sing a cycle within a week, you realize very clearly that singing opera is a very physical thing. (laughs)
Your first experience of the Ring was in Bayreuth: it was a performance conducted by Adam Fischer. Can you still remember the impression it made?
PHC: Of course, because it was not only a very good production, for me it was like stepping into a new world. I was still young, though entirely familiar with Richard Wagner - yet the Ring, this great theatrical experience, was new territory for me. And what can I say... the whole thing turned out to be a real shock! I could scarcely comprehend a lot of it - simply because it was so new to me. It's well known that the Bayreuth Festival always has very long intervals between the acts. I actually needed that hour-long interval to recompose myself. It was simply an incredible, impressive experience and I was no longer the same person I'd been before.
As a conductor, do you think of the Ring as a whole? Or are they four operas that you approach individually?
PHC: The first time I conducted Ring, I viewed the four parts more independently. Now I see them more as one great whole: for example, I can now understand Rheingold as a prologue, as the beginning of a journey. For me the tetralogy is a vast arc that should be viewed in its enitrety.
When we think of individual moments such as "Wotan's Farewell" in the Walküre, almost everyone in the audience is deeply moved at this point and literally melts away. To what extent is it the same for you as Wotan's singer?
MV: This scene is of course the culmination of the entire evening. We find ourselves at the climax of a psychological painting: The father has a violent argument with his daughter Brünnhilde - the person he loves most in the world, even more than his wife. And he has to part with her. If you don't pay close attention to all the ups and downs in this scene, you'll be overcome with emotion - and won't be able to continue singing. As Wotan, I therefore have to build up a small emotional protective wall. On the other hand, I have to react to what comes from Brünnhilde and can't completely isolate myself in terms of empathy. It's a tightrope walk!
Does this human suffering make Wotan sympathetic?
MV: I think it does. When I think of the reactions of many listeners after a performance, you can sense that he is not perceived as someone aloof - as he shows himself to be at the beginning of Rheingold - but that there is a very human side to him. This is made very clear in the aforementioned confrontations with Brünnhilde. You have to get fully involved in order to credibly convey the conflict and humanity of this god. The result is that the Valkyrie Wotan stirs you up - in a positive sense. And he has to!
Is Wotan the character you find most exciting?
PHC: I have a lot of sympathy for Loge. He doesn't side with the gods, he wants to be close to them sometimes, but not too close. He doesn't want to surrender himself completely to either side. Basically, he doesn't feel completely at home anywhere - and his music shows that.
The orchestra also has a special function in the Ring. Among other things, it tells us a lot about what takes place underground, in the unconscious, in secret. Does it therefore need special treatment from the conductor?
PHC: In Wagner, the orchestra offers far more than just beautiful music or an impressive sound. It is a powerful source for the overall narrative, absolutely essential when it comes to understanding the work. A great deal of detailed information is provided about the motifs, the treatment of these, the sound, the colors and the textures, which make the Ring truly comprehensible. The orchestra offers an almost inexhaustible amount of knowledge, statements and explanations and forms a focal point of the dramatic work. Giving this the right and necessary space is one of the central tasks of every Ring conductor.
The American author Donna Tartt once said that we humans sometimes have to try to understand a small part of the world in order to understand life as a whole. Does this apply to the ring? Is it a model for understanding the world?
MV: I certainly believe that. How the individual, different fates and relationships develop, how it all ends in the Twilight of the Gods finale and how something new can emerge from this in turn: That in itself is a symbol of the cycles of life. However, I only understood this when I sang Wotan for the first time. Before that, I saw him as an old Nordic drama with fantastic music. But when you really immerse yourself in the Ring and follow the characters, you realize what is so great about this tetralogy - namely that it is not set far away from human behaviour and is not an old story about gods and men, but really reaches deep into life and depicts many aspects of humanity and the world. It's a brilliant work that Richard Wagner has created - musically anyway, but also in terms of its complexity and the possibilities of getting involved in its world.
PHC: The Ring is a very good guide to understanding the world. Or even: the modern, contemporary world. Of course, a lot has changed since Wagner wrote this cycle - politics, society, the economy, all that is completely different. But still: all the many levels that he depicted through the myth, through the actions of the numerous characters - be they gods or humans - they can still tell us so much today. Let's think, for example, about the treatment of nature, the destruction of resources - that is incredibly topical. But the way he analyzes coexistence, the way he addresses the way people treat each other, is still extremely accurate. When we look at the ring, we understand ourselves a little better. Or let's put it this way: Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung is like a great mirror in which humanity can look at itself.