The man who gave the opera world its most dazzling 21st century “Parsifal,” Stefan Herheim , continues his quest to interrogate the Romantic text that is Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungen.” Inspired refreshing of a 150-year-old work of art can provide new insights and flashes of illumination. But conceptual pyrotechnics can just as easily destroy its object of desire.
In the case of the final Cycle of the 2024 Deutsche Oper Ring production, Herheim’s concept of turning theater inside out proved a brilliant failure. So filled with awkward settings and irritating movement was the vast stage that the luminous magic of Wagner’s masterpiece was often upstaged. Save for a handful of shining performances, the magic for the most part was confined to the orchestra pit.
And what an orchestra it was! Under the leadership of maestro Sir Donald Runnicles the Deutsche Oper orchestra was all but flawless, conjuring the sensuous innovation of Wagner’s masterpiece through velvety brass, shimmering strings, and celestial harps. The momentum of Runnicles’ musicians never let up, partnering the power and thrust of the storytelling onstage. From start to finish, the orchestra was the star of the entire four-opera journey through the imagination of a genius as he interwove German singspiel, comedy, fairytale and prophecy into the mythic spell of the Ring.
Runnicles seemed to breathe with the singers, anticipating their needs, when a phrase wanted to lengthen, expanding orc.