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Twilight of the God Opera in concert is a welcome emerging trend of Andreas Delfs' tenure at Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. It came around again at last weekend's season opener with Act I of Die Walküre, part of an all-Wagner program. It's amazing that German tenor Siegfried Jerusalem, the most prominent Wagner singer in the world, appeared in Milwaukee, performing the role of Siegmund. His rare U.S. performances have been almost exclusively at the Metropolitan Opera. Jerusalem is in the vocal twilight of his career, of course, and his tone is not always secure and steady. His final high note last Friday night was an unfortunate disaster. But the best things about his unique talent still come through: the sheer presence of the sound; the vivid use of words; the serious commitment to music at which he's one of the few experts. If soprano Alessandra Marc made less impact as Sieglinde than as last season's Turandot, the role is much less a star vehicle. Her deep understanding of musical drama, her accurate tuning, her enormous vocal resources and vocal color that is beauty itself make her performance of any music a revelation. Every time she opens her mouth she creates a stunning phrase. Bass John Cheek brought vibrantly rich singing and commanding delivery to that thug Hunding. As a cumulative musical experience, this Wagner program misfired somewhat. There are some stirring episodes in the Walküre act, but it doesn't quite stand up on its own to conclude a concert. The evening began with "barn-burner" excerpts from Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg featuring the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, with the "Ride of the Valkyries" thrown in. Wagner's music is about spacious development, and the brief highlights performed in quick succession inevitably felt truncated and lacked momentum. The chorus generally succeeded very well, though one wishes for more from the tenors and basses to better balance the sopranos. Like almost any orchestra playing this music, at times there was a struggle to balance the strings and woodwinds with the augmented blasting brass. Delfs seemed at home in Wagner. His Walküre act showed a developing grasp of some extremely tricky opera conducting. Will Delfs open the 2000-2001 season with opera? I hope so. I have a request: Bring back Alessandra Marc in anything. |