The Rheingold in the Finnish National Opera, the 3rd of September, 2019

The opera event of this and a couple of future years in Finland is without doubt Richard Wagner’s the Ring in the Finnish National Opera. Performing these four operas is a question of honor and a huge investment for every opera house. The whole four-opera cycle has been performed in the Finnish National Opera only once before. This Ring started with a small scandal, when the original director – Kari Heiskanen – was kicked out due to artistic differences with the opera management and Anna Kelo, who works at the National Opera, was chosen as the director instead of him.  

This autumn we see the first opera of the Ring – ”The Rhinegold”, which creates the foundation to the whole story of the Ring. In ”The Rhinegold” the goblin Alberich robs the gold, protected by the Rhinemaidens, from the bottom of the river Rhine and forges a ring out of it. This ring gives its owner unlimited power. Elsewhere, at the gods’ dwelling the head god Wotan has promised the sister (Freia) of his wife to the giants as a payment for them building the gods a new castle – Valhalla. Wotan doesn’t want to fulfill his promise, but with the help of another god Loge he cheats a pile of gold and the ring from Alberich. Angered by the loss of the ring Alberich curses it; its owner will be followed by death until the ring returns to Alberich. Wotan reluctantly gives not only all the gold but also the ring to the giants as a payment for Freia’s freedom. One of the giants kills the other – the curse of the ring has taken its first victim.

”The Rhinegold’s” story is like a fairy tale and Anna Kelo did not even try to make it anything else. Mikki Kunttu’s light design was excellent as so often before. Already in the first scene of the opera, where the music is expressing the flow of the river Rhine, was beautifully done. It truly is possible to form a river out of lights when you know how to do it. You should also have a look at the ceiling during this part, since the river continues in the ceiling. Costume design was in my opinion perhaps a bit peculiar. Somehow it disturbed me that German gods were dressed in costumes that resembled the garments worn in ancient Greece. Wotan is not Zeus after all.

I liked the fact that the opera had remained a fairy tale as such, but I wasn’t hundred percent happy with Anna Kelo’s direction Directing the people was not the forte of this production. Even though the totally Finnish cast (except the Estonian Koit Soasepp) sang really well, the people mostly didn’t have any depth or character.  Especially the gods mostly just wandered around aimlessly in their dwelling. The best performances were by the goblins Alberich (Jukka Rasilainen) and Mime (Dan Karlström). It was possible to feel their pain. And on the other hand, the Rhinemaidens (Marjukka Tepponen, Mari Palo and Jeni Packalén) were quite perky – suitably to their roles. The giants were in this production created through big video screens, which was in my opinion a good solution, but the image was distorted and the sound (the singers stood at the edge of the stage) and video were not in sync. I don’t know if the distortion was intentional or not, but at least in my eyes it looked strange.

However, the singers did well. Tommi Hakala’s Wagner-debut was vocally excellent and once he learns to insert some feeling into the role, he will surely sing this role also in other opera houses.  Tuomas Katajala’s Loge was interesting. Loge felt he was not appreciated enough, he was a bit slimy and Katajala sang with usual brilliance. His voice is not like a typical Wagner-tenor, but he sure did sound beautiful. Out of the giants especially Koit Soasepp as Fasolt sang better than ever. Great performance!

Even though ”the Rhinegold” was not a complete success in my eyes, I am truly looking forward to the next Ring operas, in which the actual story begins. They have a lot of possibilities for an enormous success.