I think what I dislike about Götterdämmerung is that the plot seems orthogonal to the rest of the Ring cycle. Part of writing G first and the rest of the cycle subsequently is that R W and S have an epic inexorability of cause and effect. Things feel higher than ordinary life, almost ritualistic, because the plot is so tightly constructed. G is the end toward which Wagner was writing, but the drama itself was written with a looseness that doesn't exist in the rest of the cycle. The arrival of Siegfried to the hall of the Gibichungs feels arbitrary. Hagen is vaguely connected to Alberich, though not foretold—Gunther and Gutrune have nothing to do with anything we've seen. The love potion is a construct that Wagner hasn't introduced prior — it feels like he's changing the rules midway. Sondheim tells us you can do anything you like for the first 10 minutes of your musical, but thereafter you must follow the rules you set up. The whole bit about the importance of Gunther increasing the honor of the Gibichung line is new to the viewer, disconnected from anything we've seen so far.
Mime, Nothung, Fafner, the hoard, Erda—Siegfried emerges from information front loaded to us (though the scene with Mime and Wotan drags). Walkure's Volsung drama is the least interesting part of it to me dramatically (though not musically) because it comes at us from nothing other than Wotan's "big idea" (Nothung theme) at the end of Rheingold. Only Rheingold, to me, comes across at the same level dramatically as musically—it's the only opera that is as tightly written as it is composed.
If we had heard about the Gibichungs in the first three operas, it would make it a lot easier to take, and it's the more impermissible because Wagner wrote G first, and had every opportunity to foreshadow and prepare the viewer for the finale to come. As it is, yes, you go from only gods in R to humans controlled largely by gods in W to humans breaking free from gods in S to only humans in G, but the human drama, as I see it, loses steam and becomes a letdown compared to the first three nights. The gods are so irrelevant to the structure of the drama, Siegfried drinking the love potion and betraying Brunnhilde, that the title seems like a gimmick. The drama doesn't live up to the musical pomp.
That said, the staging was effective. The gibichung aesthetic is very grayscale, '60s chic. The chorus was in shape and did a very nice high b flat (?). Hagen was extraordinary—I think he also plays Fasolt. His deep bass was resonant and luxurious. Irene something something continued to be glorious as Brunnhilde. Siegfried needed to push his voice a bit—heldentenors are the rarest of singers, and good ones rarer than hens' teeth.
Saw Rheingold again last night. It might—and I hesitate to say this—be just the slightest bit too much Wagner. Walküre again tonight—unfortunately, I tweaked a muscle in my neck, and I'm in a fair degree of pain. Just what I didn't need as my elbows are on track to recovery. Oh well.
