Suffer, Baby, Suffer: Sven-Eric Bechtolf's Siegfried Tortures Vienna State Opera

Captioning this dress rehearsal image of Siegfried at Vienna's Staatsoper almost melted our MacBook Air's delicate aluminum shell, so we kind of give up.

Juha Uusitalo is Der Terminator Wanderer and Herwig Pecoraro is the Mime, and Sven-Eric Bechtolf directs. Opens on April 27, 2008 at a slaughterhouse near you.

Comments

[dze]

Well, it doesn't look appealing but I still can't wait to listen to Nina Stemme singing Brunhilde :)

She was the best Senta I've heard, then a perfect Elisabeth (Tannhauser) and her recording of Tristan with Domingo is IMHO the best ever. She used to be an exemplary Sieglinde and now as Brunhilde - YAY! :)

[emk12]

I have seen the Dress Rehearsal yesterday -it is wonderful, exciting, great staging, very strong pictures. It´s magical. One of the moments which makes you remember why you love opera. Especially the 2nd Act belongs to the greatest I have ever seen in a theater. After having seen Walküre and Siegfried, I cannot imagine a more beautiful "Ring" at the moment. There are some weak points of course (which Ring-Production is perfect, especially right from the beginning?), but this is peanuts compared to the wonderful whole. Very sensitive staging, perfect to the music and the psychology of the characters. The Ring IS brutal, so what do you want? Wotan and Mime chatting like old friends?
To everyone who complains: Please come and make it better, I am curious to see!

[richard]

This is being broadcast on Sunday night at
http://oe1.orf.at/programm/200804275201.html