S.F. Opera’s ‘Ring’ comes to roaring conclusion
This is how it ends: the world in flames, the Rhine overflowing to wash away the curse of the ring, ending the reign of the gods and redeeming all of humanity.
With the opening of “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung,” the final pieces of San Francisco Opera’s Ring Festival have fallen into place. The monthlong revival of Richard Wagner’s four-opera “Der Ring des Nibelung” has been a revelation — a gloriously sung, intensely dramatic and thrillingly theatrical immersion into what is arguably the greatest operatic masterpiece ever created.
Like the thousands of others who attended, I’m still under its spell.
Having reviewed the cycle’s first two operas — “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre,” I returned for the opening performances of “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” (performances continue through Sunday.)
First performed in 1876, the “Ring” explores themes that are still with us today — family dysfunction, loyalty and betrayal, the destruction of the environment, and what happens when we choose power over love. It’s a timeless story, and a feminist one, too — the work’s hero is Brünnhilde, the fierce Valkyrie whose battles seem to anticipate the #MeToo movement. Watching Francesca Zambello’s remarkable productions, which set the action in the American West, it’s hard not to be struck by the parallels to our time.
Staged with insight, ingenuity and technical panache, the “Siegfried” scenes span squatters’ camps, industrial wastelands and a verdant forest. “Götterdämmerung” begins with the three Norns (Ronnita Miller, Jamie Barton, Sarah Cambidge) inside a giant motherboard, trying to avert the meltdown that will doom the planet. The Gibichungs’ louche palace overlooks a hellish power plant.
Those touches are illuminating. Still, any opera begins and ends with the singers, and the company has assembled firstrate casts. In the title role of “Siegfried,” tenor Daniel Brenna undertakes the character’s journey from
callow youth to maturity in a magnetic performance.
Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin is a stunningly strong Brünnhilde, fierce and focused, with a voice of soaring allure. Bassbaritone Greer Grimsley sings with authority and pathos as the uber-god Wotan/The Wanderer. German bass-baritone Falk Struckmann, in another company debut, exuded menace as Alberich, and David Cangelosi was a vibrant Mime. Miller sang with authority as the Earth goddess Erda, Stacey Tappan was a captivating Forest Bird, and Raymond Aceto was a sonorous Fafner.
“Götterdämmerung” brought Brian Mulligan’s
sturdy Gunther, Andrea Silvestrelli’s looming Hagen and Melissa Citro’s sleek Gutrune. Barton’s warm mezzo was an asset as Waltraute, and Tappan, Lauren McNeese and Renée Tatum blended prettily as the Rhinemaidens.
Leading these performances is conductor and former San Francisco Opera music director Donald Runnicles. One of the world’s great Wagnerians, he has complete mastery of this music, and in each opera, he drew the best from the singers, the orchestra and, in “Götterdämmerung,” the San Francisco Opera Chorus. The “Ring” is always compelling, but this “Ring” is a once-in-alifetime experience.
MTT’S EMPATHETIC ‘PATHETIQUE’ >>
If you have fond memories of Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s 2017 performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique Symphony,” here’s another chance to hear it as it sounded in the hall. The symphony is releasing the live recording that captured those performances.
“Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique” is being released this week on the SFS Media label. Recorded March 1-4, 2017, in Davies Symphony Hall, the digital-only release features the composer’s final symphonic work, available for download and streaming channels.
“Returning to the world of Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony is a profound experience for me at this point in my life,” noted Tilson Thomas. “There were a number of years where I had to distance myself from the symphony as I could not come to a peaceful solution as to how to give it the delicacy and vulnerability, as well as the enormous power, that it so often requires.
“This recording represents a stage in my thinking that is based on the world of elegance and of what I believe the word pathétique means. To me, Tchaikovsky is saying, ‘Here is my simple story. Please listen to me and hear me.’ This symphony, an amazingly constructed piece, is an outpouring of elegant melodic invention.”
SUMMER STARTS WITH GERSHWIN >>
Gershwin’s on the program when the San Francisco Symphony’s Summer with the Symphony series kicks off next week. Capathia Jenkins is the vocal soloist for the opening program, “A Salute to Gershwin,” which includes “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “The Man I Love” and, of course, the timeless “Summertime.” Pianist Andrew von Oeyen plays “Rhapsody in Blue,” and Edwin Outwater conducts. Details: 8 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m., Davies Hall, S.F.; $20-$79; 415-8646000; www.sfsymphony.org.