Cooke has a particularly lovely voice, and one only wanted to hear more of her, the role being relatively small. The bright tones of Sasha Cooke (Magdelena) and Alek Shrader (David) cut through the orchestration. All that said, the production did not get in the way of Wagner's opera. The choreography of the chorus in the first two acts is a bit on the silly side, and doesn't quite match the music or the setting. The costumes look like pretty cast-offs from a film adapted from Jane Austen, so it seems the setting is updated a few centuries. The switch from Hans Sachs' house in Act III Scene 1 to the festival banks of the River Pegnitz (pictured above, photograph by Cory Weaver) in Scene 2 was wonderfully quiet. The action happens under a fancy vaulted ceiling the whole time, with other elements to change the scenes. The singers got ahead of the orchestra, which is a distinct rarity. Quite a surprise, given the oboist normally plays very beautifully and in this piece, the brass did really well otherwise. Playing that unhurriedly does seem to wear on the musicians though, and there was an obvious mistake by the oboe player in Act II and a painful brass blooper in Act III.

The exceedingly slow tempi are stately and Elder certainly had control of the orchestra. Coupled with the attractive but tame production, it can make for a monotonous evening despite the gorgeous singing. Maestro Mark Elder's style is glacial, and while every single beautiful note is heard, it seemed tough on both the orchestra and the singers. Let's not beat around the bush on this one, San Francisco Opera's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is very long and not for the faint of heart.

Die meistersinger sf opera