Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Metropolitan Opera On Demand

https://www.metopera.org/season/on-demand/opera/?upc=811357017715&fbclid=IwAR0DytPmZzYoCLSFApovNTyjZYarML5WtlSDzGFN6YM3mEKLgb6hPU-HZFI

Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Richard Wagner
Metropolitan Opera On Demand
#CoronaCouchOpera, Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
29th March 2029

4.5 stars

I finally surfaced from Otto Schenk’s spectacular period masterpiece set to Wagner’s epic comedy and longest opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Ok, it isn’t laugh-out-loud stuff but Schenk does manage to mine what’s there nicely and he does so with a filmmaker’s eye.

What shines through at the heart of the work, and needing it more than ever now to return to our lives, is the necessity for art’s preservation and presence. And while there are rules that govern the way we live amongst each other, artistic expression, with air to breath, will flourish regardless. That all churns about in a plot that revolves around a song competition in which the prize is the hand in marriage to the young woman Eva, arranged by her father Veit Pogner.

Maybe it was my unsophisticated audio but Johan Botha seemed to lose the patina at the upper edges of the voice despite maintaining vocal power and sturdiness. Regardless, he’s much too static in his role as the knight charging into new territory, Eva’s love interest, Walther. Annette Dasch, on the other hand, charms as a radiant and pure sounding Eva, swaying along smartly from one scene to another.

The chemistry was far more appealing between Paul Appleby’s toasty voiced David and Karen Cargill’s lush and perky Lena. And, with a voice that dances colourfully on the music, Johannes Martin Kränzle is a fine ,melodramatic and jumpy Beckmesser.

The star, of course, is German baritone Michael Volle who I’ve heard sing Hans Sachs twice at Bayreuth’s Wagner Festival. Volle is exactly the right man in the cobbler’s chair, the man who senses the beauty and freshness of Walther’s rule-breaking song. Here, the heft and flexibility of voice comes with a richly carved oak tone while every note is accompanied by natural, convincing gestures.

You also get the rare opportunity to see the Met Opera Chorus up close, making their mark with both superbly united singing and acting that creates an exciting picture of life. And in the pit, briskness, subtlety and nobility feature under James Levine and the fab Met Opera Orchestra.

There’s one more production remaining as part of Met Opera’s Wagner Week and nightly opera streams. I’ll be back with a little blurb on Tannhäuser tomorrow.