‘Rheingold’ and Its Eternal Relevance

With the news dominated by broken treaties, ethnic oppression, raw power grabs and security threats, the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wagner’s ”Ring” has come back at an opportune time. Of course this monumental four-part cycle almost always seems relevant, for there are not many matters it doesn’t explore.

On Saturday afternoon the first of three complete ”Ring” cycles opened with ”Das Rheingold,” the prologue. Its timeless story centers on the struggle between the manipulative god Wotan, the head of the world’s only remaining superpower of gods, and the scheming dwarf Alberich of the lower race of Nibelungs, who, sick of his loser lot, ruthlessly overturns the natural order, steals the magical gold lying on the bed of the Rhine and uses its power to brutalize his own people into building up his personal treasury.

Spinning the story of the ”Ring” into allegories for just about anything is a time-honored exercise. Opera lovers keep coming back because of Wagner’s staggering, ingenious and haunting music.

It has been four years since the Met’s last ”Ring” presentations, and again tickets are scarce. The four operas are being presented over the next few weeks on Saturday matinees through April 24; then there will be two additional cycles, each offered over the course of six days as Wagner intended, during the last two weeks of the season, ending on May 8. Along the way there will be some extra performances of ”Die Walküre,” the most popular of the four operas, and ”Das Rheingold,” the shortest (2 hours 40 minutes with no intermission).

Audiences have mostly taken to Otto Schenk’s unabashedly romantic 1987 production, with its granitic and realistic sets. Scanning the list of participating artists in Saturday’s ”Rheingold” you might have thought, ”Ah, the usual suspects.” Actually a couple of singers made impressive Met debuts in crucial roles: the German tenor Gerhard Siegel as Mime, the sniveling brother whom Alberich bullies, and the Swiss mezzo-soprano Yvonne Naef, who was wonderful as Fricka, Wotan’s wife.

Yet even the familiar and reliable Wagnerians in the cast brought fresh insights and vitality to their work, starting with the conductor, James Levine. In the last decade or so Mr. Levine has been striving for spaciousness in his Wagner performances by taking some daringly slow tempos. But this ”Rheingold” moved with a lithe and undulant flow and the instrumental textures sometimes had a Mendelssohnian transparency. When called for, Mr. Levine brought plenty of weightiness to the music, as when the earth goddess Erda appears to issue Wotan an ominous warning, sung chillingly by the mezzo-soprano Elena Zaremba.

The bass James Morris has rightly owned the role of Wotan at the Met since this production was introduced. Though in recent seasons his voice has sounded somewhat frayed, on this occasion he sounded as good as he has in years. Wotan’s powerful pronouncements soared over the thick-textured orchestra. Even in pensive moments, Mr. Morris sang with an affecting lyricism that more than compensated for any vocal dryness.

Other singers returning to roles they sang in the last Met ”Rheingold” also seemed at their best, especially the husky-voiced baritone Richard Paul Fink as a menacing and unusually spry Alberich, and the vibrant tenor Philip Langridge as the wily demigod Loge.

Ms. Naef’s large, dusky-toned voice was well-suited to Wagner. Some may be bothered by her tremulous vibrato; I thought it gave her singing an expressive richness. And she was a poignantly affectionate Fricka. If her marriage to the brooding and inconstant Wotan is loveless, it’s not because this Fricka has not been trying to make him happy.

The last time I saw the soprano Jennifer Welch-Babidge she was a six-month-pregnant Lucia di Lammermoor at the New York City Opera. Her baby was born in December. On Saturday she looked and sounded lovely as the goddess Freia. The basses Evgenij Nikitin and Sergei Koptchak as the giants Fasolt and Fafner, the tenor Mark Baker as the god Froh and the baritone Alan Held as the god Donner were also strong.

ANTHONY TOMMASINI | March 22, 2004