Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner’s epic of warring gods and mortals struggling for possession of the magic Ring that grants power to rule the world, takes at least fifteen hours to play out, but on this occasion Natalie Stutzman led the Philharmonic through Lorin Maazel’s artfully condensed concert version that compresses the four-opera cycleinto 75 minutes. Created in 1987, this symphonic synthesis follows the drama of all four operas without interruption. Encouraged by a comment by the composer’s grandson Wieland Wagner that in Der Ring the orchestra was ‘where it all is, the text behind the text, the universal subconscious’, Maazel produced a wordless distillation that includes nearly all the high points of Wagner’s masterpiece – from the E-flat chord depicting the eternal flow of the Rhine in the opening of Das Rheingold to the soaring conclusion marking the birth of a new world at the end of Götterdämmerung – and makes the music more accessible without sacrificing its richly textured complexity.
Under Stutzman, the Philharmonic players delivered a splendid evening of Wagner, conveying all the drama, sweep and pathos inherent in the music. Their skill at expressing dramatic tension through subtle variations in sound was especially evident in the passages from Die Walküre, where the dry and agitated strings depicting Siegmund’s journey became warm and sensuous when he encounters Sieglinde, and then turn harsh to depict Wotan’s wrath.
The large orchestra included an expanded brass section – eight horns (four doubling Wagner tubas), three trumpets, bass trumpet, four trombones (three doubling stierhorns), and tuba. All played radiantly throughout, no more so than in the intensely dramatic ’Ride of the Valkyries’ and the deeply mournful music for ‘Siegfried’s Funeral March’, both of which featured excellent solos from Christopher Martin’s trumpet. Also impressive was Stefán Jón Bernharösson’s off-stage horn-call during ‘Siegfried’s Rhine Journey’.
Maazel’s arrangement swept us along in a continuous flow of orchestral music, one in which Wagner’s omnipresent leitmotifs served as stronger signposts than is usual in staged performances: music-lovers familiar with the Ring had no need of scenery or singers to follow the action. For others, the printed program went to elaborate lengths, offering brief synopses of the music-dramas, as well as musical notations of some of the more-prominent leitmotifs. But even without detailed knowledge of the complex plot, one couldn’t help but be deeply affected by the splendor and emotional intensity of Wagner’s richly dramatic music so brilliantly performed.
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