Opera review: Götterdämmerung, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Götterdämmerung, the apocalyptic conclusion to Wagner’s Ring Cycle, was also, on Sunday, the star-studded finale to what has been an outstanding 2019 Edinburgh International Festival opera programme. It was also the final instalment to a complete concert-style Ring Cycle, its four operas rolled out one by one over the past four festivals.

Christine Goerke. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic

Götterdämmerung, Usher Hall, Edinburgh * * * * *

Nothing quite beats the finality of Götterdämmerung, its hours of leitmotiv high jinx and lurid backstabbing (literally in poor Siegfried’s case) reconciled in that gloriously concluding big-screen theme.

Sir Andrew Davis, not an obviously natural Wagnerian, approached the music with clear-minded efficiency, securing a tight, self-defining directionality from the RSNO (its six harps like a seraphic militia), which in turn acted as an inspirational bedrock for some classy singing. More expansiveness in the closing moments from Davis would truly have nailed it.

All of The Scotsman's 5-star reviews from the 2019 festivals

Burkhard Fritz’s Siegried was heroic to the last, despite fatigue threatening his final utterances; Christine Georke exhibited extraordinary vocal and emotional muscle as an unforgettable Brünnhilde; and Amber Wagner was vocally all-consuming as Getrune. Together with the pungency of the RCS Voices, this was a cast to die for.

Ken Walton

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