The pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, who will be 80 in November, is a repeat offender. Since his earliest youth, he has repeatedly dealt with Ludwig van Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas on the piano, this cosmos of sound that encompasses all emotional worlds. Barenboim performed the cycle publicly in Tel Aviv in 1960 at the age of 17. He recorded it three times, most recently for Beethoven’s 250th birthday. As a conductor, Barenboim was just as maniacal about Richard Wagner, particularly his monstrous four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen. Barenboim’s Bayreuth performances, which he completed from 1988 onwards, have become famous, as have the complete performances in Berlin, where he has been music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden since 1992. Now for his 80th birthday, Barenboim wanted to treat himself to a new “Ring”, which he was supposed to perform three times in October. That would have been three times fifteen and a half hours on a total of twelve evenings, this “Ring” is already considered the operatic event of the beginning season. But nothing will come of it, Barenboim is ill and has canceled. He asked Christian Thielemann and Staatsoperkapellmeister Thomas Guggeis to take over this series.
Guggeis like Thielemann, as Berlin’s State Opera director Matthias Schulz explains on the phone, are no surprise candidates, they were intended for subsequent performances of the “Ring”. That’s why the Berlin cast is a little less spectacular than that in Bayreuth in the summer, when shortly before the “Ring” premiere, Pietari Inkinen, who was suffering from Corona, had to be replaced by Cornelius Meister. But there is a real parallel to Bayreuth. Because only there is the “Ring” re-produced within a week. Even the big houses usually only complete the project in two seasons, sometimes even four. But Berlin is now doing the “Ring” in eight days, which is a record. According to Schulz, this madness does not go back to Barenboim, who is receptive to great artistic achievements, but to director Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the most imaginative and exciting opera makers at the moment, whom Barenboim brought to Berlin at the beginning of his career.
Tcherniakov’s “Ring” results in a future institute in which the salvation of mankind is negotiated
Because Tcherniakov thinks of the “Ring” differently than many of his colleagues as a unit that wants to be experienced as such in a timely manner. He had 13 technically complex rooms built for this purpose. The whole thing results in a future institute in which the salvation of the world and humanity is negotiated, Schulz doesn’t want to reveal more. But that fits perfectly with Wagner’s “Ring” concept, which describes a liberation of mankind from the gods, but is also typical of Tcherniakov, who likes to let operas play in the context of esoteric circles that are looking for a way out of the existential crises of the world.
The first talks about this “ring” took place seven years ago. Matthias Schulz raised extra money for this and persuaded directors of productions before and after this “Ring” to hand in their concepts earlier so that the “Ring” can come onto the stage undisturbed. But the focus is on the singers. Michael Volle will sing the three Wotan roles, the heroic tenor Andreas Schager, promoted early on by Barenboim, the two Siegfrieds, and Rolando Villazón, who has disappeared from the stage a little, the songling Loge. And the wonderful Anja Kampe will balance the three Brünnhildes as a debut. If not Barenboim, who could have persuaded her to do this?
Unlike many of his fellow musicians, Daniel Barenboim is very open about his illnesses. He recently made both his eye and back operations public, as well as the rare blood vessel inflammation vasculitis, which he urgently needs to cure on the advice of the doctors. According to Schulz, Barenboim wants to use this openness to prevent speculation about how good or bad things are for him. According to Schulz, this is due to Barenboim’s high artistic sense of responsibility. Just as he called Thielemann and asked for help. And Thielemann, along with Barenboim the most intimate “Ring” connoisseur in the world, agreed, although he still has to do a concert in Dresden and a tour. The rehearsal time is therefore somewhat reduced for the first two parts, but for the rest he can attend all the major rehearsals.
And Daniel Barenboim? If all goes well, he will make up for his birthday “Ring” in April next year conducting.