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L.A. Opera makes a ‘Ring’ to remember

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Los Angeles Opera has now accomplished what it set out to accomplish. The company has stubbornly overcome considerable musical, theatrical, acoustical and fiscal obstacles and mounted a notable “Ring.” Not all dubious Wagnerites are Achim Freyer converts, but when the director and his team took their bows Sunday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, following the end of L.A.’s first ‘Ring’ cycle, they were greeted by bellowing bravos, underpinned by a significantly dimmer low pitched roar of boos, which created a purposefully textured chord. The cast was cheered and cheered.

The saga is not over. There are two more cycles to come. But seeing ‘Ring’ condensed to a period of nine days, rather than over the two seasons it took to produce the four individual operas of the cycle, left little doubt that, love it or hate it, the L.A. ‘Ring’ is a landmark for L.A. and for Wagner.

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For an account of the first cycle, click here.

-- Mark Swed

Related:

Complete Times coverage of the ‘Ring’

Critic’s Notebook: ‘Siegfried’ via Brecht’s alienation effect

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