English National Opera bounces back with a gripping Rhinegold

Who would have thought it? After limping forth with a deeply disappointing Valkyrie last year on the long Wagnerian journey towards a new Ring cycle, English National Opera has come back fighting with a gripping production of The Rhinegold at the London Coliseum.

This may not help in the long run. Since Arts Council England delivered its bombshell in cutting ENO’s grant last November, the company has had to drop Siegfried from next season, and the omens are not looking good for the cycle ever getting completed — embarrassing when it is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

For the time being, though, we can enjoy how well the social and political drama of The Rhinegold suits director Richard Jones’s style. The edgy, comic-strip tone is set at the start when Wotan criss-crosses the stage, ageing each time as he fashions his spear from a branch of the world ash tree. Further parades of characters follow, including Alberich as he forges the Ring and the gods as they comically age after Freia’s youth-giving apples are taken away.

The magical effects, which so confound today’s directors, are imaginatively handled — and on a budget. Alberich’s transformations using the Tarnhelm are zanily amusing, the hiding of Freia behind the gold is cleverly done and the rainbow bridge makes a glittering final curtain.

Overall, Wagner’s “preliminary evening” takes on the feeling of a satyr play, the comical counterpart that classical Greek writers appended after a trilogy of tragedies. Given Wagner’s admiration for the Greek model, the comparison is not inapt, even if The Rhinegold comes first in his cycle.

Central to this take on the drama is Loge, the ironic observer of events. Deftly played by Frederick Ballentine as a flamboyant, sharp-tongued operator, part showman, part master of ceremonies (the MC in Cabaret comes to mind), this Loge benefits most from the sassy modern translation by John Deathridge.

The other driving force is Leigh Melrose’s Alberich. Although he lacks the right malevolent bass voice, Melrose is riveting as he grows from a gormless, unloved teenager into the psychopathic, power-hungry maniac who terrorises the Nibelungs and delivers the fateful curse on the ring.

Alongside these, some of the other portrayals pale rather. John Relyea rises to Wotan’s big moments, but the voice tends to sound gruff elsewhere. Madeleine Shaw’s mezzo does not sound deep enough for Fricka, though she is a live presence, and Katie Lowe is vocally a touch on the thin side as Freia. Mime is strongly sung by John Findon and Christine Rice delivers a highly charged scene as Erda. Most welcome are the two giants, James Creswell as Fafner and, especially, Simon Bailey, who brings noble singing and depth of feeling to Fasolt.

It is a shame that ENO’s music director Martyn Brabbins does not find more pictorial detail in the music — we do not really hear the flowing waters of the Rhine, Alberich’s scrambling over the rocks, or Mime’s wheedling — but the Wagnerian orchestral palette is there. In any case this is a Rhinegold rooted in text and character. The opera has rarely felt so modern.

★★★★☆

To March 10, eno.org