Need Wagner have made Siegfried quite so objectionable? Thomas Mann called him a “buffoon, god of light, and anarchistic social revolutionary all at once”, but it’s not just simply buffoonery, rather innocence tarnished with insolence and the petulance of an overgrown child who’s a bully. Yet in Longborough Festival Opera’s new production, the third stage of its Ring Cycle, directed by Amy Lane, the suggestion is that, brought up by the appalling Mime (Adrian Dwyer), he couldn’t be otherwise. A case of nurture contaminating the nature-boy, who learns better things when out on his own in the wild.
All of this can make the first act an attempt at reconciling disparate elements, while at the same time wondering whether Siegfried has a voice which will last the night. Bradley Daley had the requisite stamina and heft, and, appropriately, seemed to achieve his most convincingly impassioned sound when forging the magic sword and fired with the idea of finding Brünnhilde. Julieth Lozano’s delightful Woodbird – drawing on some of the vibrancy of last year’s Cunning Little Vixen and with a streak of rusty red in her hair to boot – is a talisman for Siegfried and, as the first female voice in a long haul, also for the listener. This relationship is nicely handled, notably by conductor Anthony Negus bringing out delicacies in the score, played with finesse by Longborough Festival Orchestra. A special shoutout for the player of Siegfried’s horn-call.
