The Metropolitan Opera’s subsequent run is The Ring years away. However for native Wagnerians who’re racing, the New York Philharmonic supplied a teaser this weekend within the type of Lorin Maazel’s 1987 distillation. “The ‘Ring’ With out Phrases”.
The late Eighties had been glory days for the classical recording business, basking within the success of the still-new CD, and Maazel’s 70-minute association, commissioned by the Telarc label, neatly crammed one disc.
As an train, “The Ring” with out phrases’ — led by David Geffen Corridor from Natalie Stutzmanmusic director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra—is spectacular. Maazelconductor of the Philharmonic within the early 2000s, and by all accounts an excellent musical thoughts, set himself the problem of creating a breakless synthesis that runs by the cycle of 4 operas in succession utilizing solely Wagner’s sheet music.
The end result has some fascinating how-to moments. The strike of Donner’s hammer, nearly on the finish of “Das Rheingold,” is a sudden thunderbolt that brings us into the midst of the storm that begins “Die Walküre.” The sparks of magical hearth that encompass Brünnhilde in Valkyrie dissolve into the forging of the sword in Siegfried.
Maazel renders the seams in these cross-sections artfully invisible. But there’s an ideal effectivity to the work that befits its origins as an enterprise product. Wagner’s 15-hour cycle is filled with grandeur and emotion, however though Sunday’s efficiency rose to scorching climaxes, it barely hints on the operas’ vary from the epic to the intimate; this was only a fast overview.
A part of that was the fault of the Philharmonic. For “The ‘Ring’ With out Phrases” to have any actual influence, it must be performed dazzlingly. On Sunday, some passages had been extra clear than standard — you may hear the flutes by all of the fast arpeggios within the daybreak of “Das Rheingold” — and string protuberances had been bitten initially of “Experience of the Valkyries” and in Siegfried’s funeral march.
However there was additionally squareness moderately than timelessness to this mysterious opening of “Rheingold,” in addition to some doubtful intonation within the brass and a few shaky entrances and transitions, which had been exceptional provided that this was this system’s third and closing efficiency .
I had a greater time on Friday evening when Stutzmann led a smaller group of musicians in Bach on the Cathedral Church of St. John the Theologian. The Philharmonic normally offers a free Memorial Day live performance there, however this season it was rescheduled for the winter.
This was clean, mellow, heat soulful Bach—old style in a great way, a throwback to the period earlier than sharper, sooner Baroque interpretation turned the norm even for traditional symphonic forces.
The acoustics of St. John the Divine is defiantly reverberant and a number of the mushy singing of the delicate baritone Leon Kosavic within the cantata “Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen” was misplaced. However he was glorious, as was soprano Talis Trevin, who sang one other cantata, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen,” with a brightly coloured however melting tone.
The huge church is definitely higher suited to chamber music than to giant ensembles, corresponding to an outstanding, swish quartet – Yoobin Son, flute; I-Jung Huang, violin; Sumire Kudo, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord — featured in “Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale” from “Musical Providing.”
Every part was extra touching than The Wordless Ring. However on Sunday, not less than the viewers was left with an impeccably shiny closing chord, and it was a pleasure to see Stutzman applauded by the orchestra after her final main live performance in New York went a bit wrong.
Two years in the past she made her debut on the Met, conducting two new productions of Mozart in repertory. She made a joking remark in a New York Times preview article which for some purpose provoked the Met musicians, who twisted its that means right into a critique of their work ethic; they even posted their complaints on social media.
However on Sunday, when applause introduced her again to the stage at Geffen Corridor and he or she motioned for the orchestra to rise, the members honored her by remaining seated, letting Stutzman take a solo bow.
New York Philharmonic
Carried out in David Geffen Corridor and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Manhattan.
