Ailing voice dampers ‘Die Walkuere’

Mary Campbell

Friday, April 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

NEW YORK -- The glorious start the Metropolitan Opera had with the season's premiere of "Die Walkuere" lasted only until the first intermission.

By Act 2 of the Wagner opera, Monday night's performance (which will be performed live on KNPR 89.5-FM at 9:30 a.m. Saturday) tumbled downhill.

After a dazzling Act 1 performance by Placido Domingo and Deborah Voigt, and before the curtain rose on Act 2, Met President Joseph Volpe announced that Hildegard Behr-ens, who was singing the role of Brunnhilde, was suffering from an attack of allergies but had agreed to sing.

It was the wrong decision. Behrens' singing was the vocal equivalent of a few threads holding together the knee of a pair of ragged jeans.

Conductor James Levine held onto each note with loving attention, making orchestral lines slow and as smooth as a lullaby. It's a beautiful approach for the audience but must be brutal for singers.

Behrens couldn't hold the notes long enough to blend one into the next. She had to try to hit each one, let go of it and try for the next. She did her best singing on her highest notes.

Many in the audience expected another announcement before Act 3 to signal that a replacement soprano would be brought in. Janis Martin, Behrens' cover, was in the house. But Behrens carried on. She was applauded at the end of the opera, but there were a few boos. Her acting was, as always, right on target.

Behrens' vocal problems could pose a problem for the Met, which is counting on her as a mainstay of its three complete "Ring" cycles this season. "Die Walkuere" is the second of the four operas that make up the cycle.

Domingo was in especially fine voice, sounding both tender and heroic. He let some final notes ring long. Throughout, he sang with power and a buoyant sense of freedom, not holding back to save some voice for later and not pushing.

Voigt, who has a big, glowing voice, was a match for Domingo. They made Act 1 the thrill of every Wagner lover's imagination.

John Macurdy also was splendid, as Hunding, husband of Voigt's character, Sieglinde. He was appropriately making his singing to Domingo an assault. James Morris as Wotan, the god who is Brunnhilde's father, was magnificent. Hanna Schwarz as Fricka, the brow-beating wife of Wotan, managed to be shrill without sounding so.

Behrens was said to be consulting her doctor about whether she could go ahead with the next "Walkuere," scheduled for a live radio broadcast Saturday afternoon.