Basel is Bayreuth. And not just because there, at the Basel Theater, a new “Ring of the Nibelung” is being created after 40 years. Benedikt von Peter, artistic director and director of the “Ring”, had Natascha von Steiger recreate the Bayreuth Festival Hall for him. The Basel theater still looks as we know it, but one crucial point is as Richard Wagner conceived: the orchestra is hidden. The Basel Symphony Orchestra sits in Nibelheim, i.e. under the stage, including under the first four rows of the stalls. The sound comes out of cracks and holes, it is simply there, completely present, even if soft, indirect. It seems a bit like in Bayreuth, but at the expense of the theatrical power – and the “Ring” in particular is theater music. Very specific. Now you have a beautifully mixed euphony, but Jonathan Nott can animate the orchestra as he wants: you miss a bit of the driving, structuring power of the music.
In Basel, director Benedikt von Peter begins with Wagner’s “Ring” culture
