Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.In some of his most recent productions at La Scala, the opera director David McVicar has positioned himself as a sort of anti-provocateur — a gifted storyteller more interested in weaving a compelling narrative than putting his individual stamp on a work. Such an approach seems well suited to the Milan house, where traditionalist audiences rarely hide their disapproval when creative liberties are taken. No doubt in recognition of that apparent compatibility, La Scala has now entrusted the director with the biggest prize of all: its first full Ring cycle in a decade.La Scala’s last attempt at Wagner’s immense tetralogy was conducted by Daniel Barenboim and set a high bar. McVicar got off to a good start in October’s attractive Das Rheingold, the prologue, and continues in the same fairytale vein in Die Walküre. Imposing, austere sets — gnarled trees before a portcullis, megalithic standing stones reminiscent of Stonehenge and a rounded rock resembling the head of the Earth goddess, Erda — provide only suggestions of context, underlining the timeless nature of Wagner’s mythology. Cosmic back wall projections and stage smoke inject colour and atmosphere.The director has done fine work with the singers, offering an assemblage of finely polished characters who ensure that, in this staging’s best stretches, the story is told with engrossing lucidity. Spectacle, on the other hand, is kept to a minimum, save for the occasional entry of the Valkyries’ horses portrayed by extras on spring stilts and equine headpieces. Perhaps the audience would have preferred more onstage action: while they applauded the singers and conductor at the curtain call, they greeted McVicar with a loud chorus of boos.If this production sometimes felt staid, however, the bigger issue was the playing under Simone Young, another Wagner heavyweight who replaced Christian Thielemann after he withdrew from the entire cycle in September. In contrast to the exhilarating tempestuousness unleashed in Barenboim’s Die Walküre, Young favours a soft-grained, translucent sound with finely balanced chords and arching phrases that gently thaw. This approach is beautiful and allowed for perfect audibility of the singers. However, the orchestra often lacked penetration and fire, a problem in a slow-burning opera in which the players do much of the legwork in generating a sense of tension.Luckily, the formidable lineup of singers was capable of creating its own drama. Klaus Florian Vogt’s ringing Siegmund wedded virile heroism with a youthful naivety that had you rooting for him all the way to his tragic death. Elza van den Heever, the French-South African soprano making her house debut, was a rapturous and devastatingly sorrowful Sieglinde. Günther Groissböck’s dangerous Hunding and Okka von der Damerau’s cold, implacable Fricka made strong contributions to the opera’s domestic dramas. Camilla Nylund’s tender Brünnhilde was endowed with awesome moral strength. Together with Michael Volle’s towering Wotan, a highly complex figure whose every thought seems to flicker before your eyes, she brought the house down.★★★★☆To February 23, teatroallascala.org
