Does preserving opera on a record or film do justice to the opera performance?
That is one of the eternal questions facing recorded performances. The answer, of course, varies from DVD to DVD, but one can safely say that for the most part, Opus Arte’s new release of Wagner’s Siegfried certainly lives up to expectations. Graham Clark, who plays Mime in this production, gives an immense performance, and when Siegfried kills the character in Act 2, we don’t really know whether we should detest or feel sorry for him. Compared to Clark’s performance, that of John Brcheler as the Wanderer/Wotan, while technically competent, seems to lack a certain regality that one would expect of the god of gods’, or even a wise wanderer. Heinz Kruse plays the insolent Siegfried who learns fear not from slaying a dragon, but from falling in love. The insolent part Kruse certainly does extremely well, and his chemistry with Mime and Fafner makes the first two acts of the opera highly enjoyable and entertaining. His chemistry with Brnnhilde (Jeannine Altmeyer), however, leaves much to b
