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Walküre
in Plainfield
First installment of an out-of-order Ring
Sunday, October 15, 2006
By Peter Stevens
New Jersey Concert Opera, Robert Butts (cond.). Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, performed in concert. Roseof Sharon Community Church, Plainfield.
The Sunday afternoon performance of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre by New Jersey Concert Opera marked amajor moment for the arts community of New Jersey. Indeed, research suggests that this may very well have been the first complete performance of the second part of the Ring Cycle to have been offered in the state.
Conductor Robert W. Butts pilotedthe musicians through Wagner’s score most effectively and affectionately conveyed all the nuances of human emotion.Though the orchestral forces employed were less than might be found ata major house, they delivered in spades. The sound was consistently full, sensual, and exciting. The only noticeable concernwas a trumpet player who clearly hadn’t prepared and, alas, made the sword motif a little less than stunning.Otherwise, the orchestra was excellent and, considering that the performance lasted a little over five hours, played with spirit and beauty from the ominousopening measures of storm music through the exquisite fire music at the end.
The venue — the recreation hall at Rose Of Sharon Community Church inPlainfield — did not compromise the force of the ensemble, even though one’s first expectationwas that the gym-like space could have been a concern.
With the singers, it is hard to know where to begin as the cast was uniformly excellent:
Certainly, soprano Julia Rolwing’s Sieglinde stood out.Her performance conveyed both physically and vocally thecharacter’s changing moods of cautious vulnerability, passion, despair and renewed ecstasy.
Tenor Paul McIlvaine’s Siegmund was fine as well, although a bit short on the self-assured arrogance of the lone wolf, as the character describes himself in the earlier scenes.He was vocally satisfying throughout, delivering an especially memorable rendition of the “spring” aria.
Soprano Gail Sullivan was very strong on all counts. She portrayed Brünnhilde with a type “A” personality, confident and intelligent in character at first, then more dutifully humbled in the end. A deeply memorable performance impressively sung.
Bass Erick Kroncke’s Hunding was yet another solid performance on this solid musical afternoon.Possessing a wonderful bass-baritone voice, Mr. Kroncke was a pleasure to hear and a forceto watch. His execution of the somewhat one-dimensional role was very effective.
The role of Fricka may not grant much stage time, but Paula Roediger madethe most of it when calling Wotan on the carpet for his scheming behavior.Hers was a well-thought through,intelligent, and gratifying portrayal not to be overlooked or overshadowed by the greater stage time of the other principals.
Much the same could be said of the Wotan of bass-baritone Steven Fredericks. From his first moment to his last, he was consistently and believably in character. Aristocratically portrayed,including paternal rage, Fredericks gave the audience a Wotan of great emotional depth.
Last, but definitely not least, all the Walküres created together aterrific energy and passion for the third act. Sonia Boyer, Dawn Patricia Murphy, Tracey Adele Cooper, Kimberly Bentley, Kathy Geary, Laura Federici, Jacqueline Goldgorin, and Fran Kraemer clearly relished the opportunity to create each of Brunnhilde’s sisters not as merely a bunch of wild-sounding mythical beings but as a group of real individuals.
All in all, the five-hour performance was a notable achievement for a small company, producing a performance so gripping the time seemed to fly by. Mr. Butts with thesingers and instrumentalists of New Jersey Concert opera set a considerablestandard for future productions of opera in New Jersey, Wagnerian or other.