Orange County Strikes Rhine Gold in Pacific Symphony’s Beautiful ‘Ring’
/By Truman C. Wang
4/17/2025
Photo credit: Pacific Symphony
Rhinemaidens with Alberich (From left to right Mezzo Soprano Gretchen Krupp, soprano Hanna Brammer, Soprano Alexandra Razskazoff, Bass Baritone Nathan Berg
The Pacific Symphony engaged a respectable cast for its Das Rheingold. It would have been nice, in a complete Ring, to witness Mime’s character evolving from Rheingold to Siegfried, or Wotan’s transformation from a young god, full of bravado, to a dejected old Wanderer in Siegfried, But even with a quarter-Ring, it was an ambitious and crowning achievement of Music Director Carl St. Clair’s 35 years with the Pacific Symphony.
This Rheingold was initially designed and produced for the Atlanta Opera’s multi-year Ring Cycle (2023-26), by that company’s General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, In transcribing Mr. Zvulun’s operatic vision to the Segerstrom Concert Hall stage, director Gregory Luis Boyle (who is Mr. Zvulun’s assistant in Atlanta) admitted having to redesign the video projections and the sets, but keeping the same costume and storytelling concept. The biggest challenge, according to Mr. Boyle, was placing and concealing a large orchestra onstage — a task he accomplished cleverly using three tall scrim panels. A wrap-around video screen was hung above the stage. All together, they gave convincing illusions of location (the gods’ high realm, the Rhine riverbed, the subterranean Nibelheim, Erda’s World Ash Tree); of movement (moving water currents in the prelude, ascending and descending through clouds and deep earth, Alberich’s magical transformation into a small toad); and of emotion (Freia’s abduction turned the screens black-and-white, the lights dimmed and gods’ faces pallid.) All singers were clad in Mattie Ullrich’s gorgeous, gleaming traditional costumes (the gods’ costumes, except Loge’s, were spangled, as were the Rhinemaiden’s aqua blue belly dancer outfits.) There were many indelible stage pictures, many “deeds of music made visible” that were faithful to Wagner’s staging directions. This was a concert presentation that would be the envy of any opera opera.
In a departure from tradition, the Rheingold was broken up into two parts, with an intermission during Wotan and Loge’s descend to Nibelheim. Maestro St. Clair explained it was discussed and approved by the board, presumably to accommodate the Symphony’s patrons and subscribers unaccustomed to the opera’s 2.5-hour length. To put the matter in perspective, the entire Ring is 15-16 hours long, and the first act of Götterdämmerung alone runs to 2.5 hours.
All the singers showed good psychological command of their roles, delivering the text with their individual rhythmic, tonal and verbal inflections. Andrea Silvestrelli and David Soar, as Fasolt and Fafner – were the real thing, physically and vocally. Kyle Albertson was a fine Wotan, his bass-baritone clear, steady, and incisive, the interpretation had nobility and godlike authority. David Cangelosi was a spry Mime. Renée Tatum was a memorable Fricka, her mezzo-soprano soaring affectingly with a rich upper extension. Teresa Perrotta’s Freia never lost her sweet composure even under duress. The Donner and Froh, Aleksey Bogdanov and Adam Diegel, were also fine, with the latter singing some tender notes in Froh’s arietta.. Ronnita Miller’s Erda was striking. The Rhinemaidens – Alexandra Razskazoff, Gretchen Krupp, Hanna Brammer – were lilting and beautifully tuned Dennis Petersen, the crafty fire god Loge, acted winningly as a Spieltenor, a character tenor, but sang only passably as a heroic tenor. (Wagner’s first Bayreuth Loge, Heinrich Vogl, was also a Tristan and a Siegfried.)
Carl St. Clair conducted Wagner like it was his swan song before retiring at the end of the current season – with great emotion, spiritual force, and breadth of vision. In the orchestra he obtained immaculate and powerful playing (the mighty drums at the giants’ arrival, the final peroration of gods ascending to Valhalla); in the listeners he stirred the pulse and the soul. In my interview with him, maestro St. Clair expressed his fond wish for the Pacific Symphony to cross the rainbow bridge, as the gods do at the end of Rhinegold, to play more great operas in the years to come.
Alexander Shelley, the Symphony's new Artistic and Music Director, will make his debut on May 1 in a program of Beethoven with pianist George Li.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.