I cannot adequately put into words the truly breathtaking performance by the New York Philharmonic of The Ring Without Words, written by their conductor Lorin Maazel. Without altering a note of Wagner’s majestic Ring Series, Maazel reduced the running time from 15 hours to a concert-length condensation of 75 minutes.This was the Carnegie Hall premiere of The Ring Without Words.
Maazel created this work in 1987 at the request of Telarc Recordings and a CD was recorded that same year with the Berlin Philharmonic. I have that recording and I highly recommend it to you opera-lovers out there in cyberspace: Telarc CD-80154.
My seat was super-excellent, prime orchestra, row J, seat 9, and kinda expensive at $88. The combination of a prime seat and the outstanding acoustics in Carnegie Hall (so much better than Avery Fisher Hall) made this concert one to remember forever, and I am not exaggerating. The concert was sold out and every seat was filled.
The concert was performed without stops between the four operas, beginning with the first note of Das Rheingold and finishing with the last chord of Gotterdammerung. When the final chord finished and the performance was over the audience rose to its feet as one and began a roaring ovation that resulted in Maazel returning to the stage at least 8 times, something I have never witnessed at either Carnegie Hall or Avery Fisher.
Yes, this is another testimonial to why I now live in The Big Apple.
Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment