Heinz Zednik was magnificent in the Boulez Ring. In the Haitnik Ring he had lost some of his strength, but he was also great. One of the best Loge ever.
I went to an audition many years ago. I'm a bass so I probably sang "Il Lacerato Spirito" - a standard audition aria. Easy to sing short and everyone knows it. I think this was for Donald Pippen in San Francisco. Pippin did mostly rare early Italian operas in those days. Lots of Handel. The guy after me sang this Loge narrative - maybe the worst choice possible for an audition piece. It was very odd. Neither of us as it happened got cast, although I did sing with his company later. But i was also on another company's board (Cinnabar Opera) and they wanted to do Rheingold but there was the question of orchestra size and the part of Loge. They said - "We've got baritones, basses, sopranos and contraltos but there just isn't anyone in Northern California who can sing Loge". So I popped up and said - "I know a guy". And that's how I came to sing Fasolt.
The whole production is magnificent, Zednik as Loge gives a great performance and a stunning portrait of a mephistophelic and vain master. He puts Wotan under his spell and sings his part with a demonic innocence. Brilliant!
He has been my favorite Loge since the very early 1980s, and this is an all-around brilliant performance, but it was only this morning I realized that in this production he looks like Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Zednik is brilliant. Have you heard him in comic operetta roles (Paganini, highly recommended)? There is a special charm to this cast--McIntyre is not a great Wotan voice, but he sold me the way James Morris never did. Jerusalem hitting the "Brucke" note in the last scene is my idea of heaven.
Heinz Zednik's portrayal of Loge has pretty much ruined any subsequent performances. The combination of direction and performance created a singular Loge which will never be matched.
Zednik and Windgassen are the two greatest Loges ever. On an inferior note, but also quite great, are Peter Hofmann and Siegfried Jerusalem. Every other Loge is mostly disappointing.
You're right, without Loge the Gods would have died. But how come he's the smartest among them all? Why can't anybody else see the tragic and injustice of what happens? Is vanity so powerful?
I find Zednik's performance as Loge unparalleled. I even find it better than those during the so-called "golden age" of Wagnerian singing. I heard Erich Witte in the legendary Clemens Krauss version and... yes, beautiful voice, great singing, but Zednik crushes all his competition when it comes to characterization. He wasn't just singing and acting, he was totally embodying an archetypal Loge!
Set Svanholm was another great Loge. You can listen to him in the Solti Ring. I also love Peter Hofmann's rare Loge from the Sawallisch Ring from the '70s. It is very different to hear heldentenor interpretations of Loge and lyrical interpretations, such as Zednik. I would love to hear the fantastic Gerhard Unger sing Loge - he was another lyrical tenor with a tremendously beautiful voice for Wagnerian roles, such as David in Meistersinger. But, so far as I know, Herr Unger never recorded it.
@@davidbastardo4154, interesting that Peter Hofmann has been cast as Loge. There's no reason why a Heldentenor shouldn't sing Loge. Siegfried Jerusalem has sung Loge in the James Levine/Otto Schenk production at the Met in the early 1990s. And he was a very good Loge. His acting wasn't half bad. He captured the character - and I am sure he had fun 😉 However, the character of Loge doesn't require a conventionally beautiful voice. But being able to act and having stage presence is really important. And Heinz Zednik had oodles of it. So far I haven't seen a better Loge!
This is my favorite production of The Ring, and to this day stands as Bayreuth Festival's greatest success, with the final Gotterdammerung curtain call lasting for 85 minutes. This scene, Loge’s monologue, is one of my favorites of the cycle. I do however agree with the comment here about the ineffectiveness of the comparison to 19th century capitalism. Some of the costumes are comical, (Fasolt and Fafner? Really?) and the whole machine-thingy is just plain silly. But Zednick is by far my favorite Loge, and Jerusalem my favorite Siegmund. It has been said that McIntyre is not the best Wotan and Gwyneth Jones not the best Brunnhilde, however I disagree. Both of them have such terrific stage presence. Consider the scene in act 2 of Die Walkure where Brunnhilde prepares Siegmund for Valhalla. Stunning. The second best scene in the cycle. When my wife saw Jerusalem take of his shirt all she could manage was “Oh, my”. Or what about the verbal duel between Brunnhilde and Siegfried in act 2 of Gotterdammerung, swearing on the point of Hagen’s spear. Absolute genius. But by far the most emotionally evocative scene in the whole cycle is McIntyre and Jones in the final act of Walkure. No one has sung the farewell as achingly beautifully as them. Still, I know others will disagree. This remains my uneducated opinion.
I am sorry but in this production Siegfried Jerusalem never sang Siegmund. Jerusalem was singing Froh in the Rheingold, thats all. Siegmund in this Ring was sung by Peter Hofmann.
I am SO glad you posted this. I've been living on my memory of how much I'd loved Heinz Zednik as Loge & was beginning to wonder if I'd overestimated. NO! He is as absolutely weird, magical and perfect in the role as I had remembered! Many, many thanks!
I think that they are two kinds of Loge: Charaktertenor Loge (like Zednik, Clark etc.) and Heldentenor Loge (Windgassen, Jerusalem). Charaktertenors are more, well, characteristic and eccentric, but Heldentenors are in my opinion also nice in this role. Windgassen is especially elegant and eloquent one, he creates an unusual impression of charming and handsome Loge :)
B & C took the context of Wagner's writing, 19th C Capitalism, and made explicit in costumes and staging what is implicit in the music-drama. Here is a rising bourgeoisie aping the rococo splendour of an Ancien Regime - graciousness removed from messy profit and accumulation. This obliviousness to fate of Old France under the kiss of Mdm Guillotine neatly parallels the blindness of the gods to their fate after Wotan's crookedness. Economics and politics influence the meaning of art. ♥ andrea
stevenmathers, you are right 😂 I saw the similarity of Heinz Zednik's Loge and Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show long ago. I researched this - and Patrice Chereau did this deliberately! He was very young back then, and he clearly knew the movie😊 But I am not sure if the Bayreuth audience saw the joke...
Seattle opera tops this masterly production? Oh people, please travel more and stop comparing everything to what you've seen in those American opera houses of minor importance.
@andreaandrewmilne This opera has little to do w 19th cent. capitalism except of human greed--there are differ's & they are spelled out in hist.books. Just because there is aglimmer of an idea in an opera doesn't give us the permiss. to exploit it. Other themes-redemption, Gods, paganess--petty splendour of regimes? Beyond me. Metaphors are stretched too far. Lets put Wotan in a 19th cent. mansion because he likes gold? C'mon! We agree to disagree--but I'm closer to the opera's intentions.
What would you suggest? Singers standing without moving a finger, during 15 hours? Or the playmobil medieval universe? One can like Chereau s productions or not but his work is still watched and continues to surprise and stun audiences.
@@jamesmorris1657 I saw that. It was quite disgusting and silly. The Rhine gold as the Argentine children killed by Vivela? No, thanks. I'll stick to the Edda romantization Wagner wanted his work to be.
Terrible drudge sets/costumes. Lets NOT escape by going to the opera, right?!. Has NOTHING to do with the mythology of the music. Chereau/Boulez are to blame for the techno directors ruining Bayreouth and elsewhere--Schweinhunts!! Richard and Cosima are turning over in their graves. Thielmann what is going on here???? Wait 10 years to see THIS??? I'll stay home!! Ugh!
Your comment is quite old, but I just have to react: you wrote narrowminded rubbish. This production is over 40 years old and still unparalleled. Richard would have at least respected if not loved it. His most important quote „Kinder, schafft Neues!“ says everything. And please don’t mention the dreadfully odd Schenk-Ring at the Met. Boooooooring.
