DSO’s “Ring” resounds with superb singing in “Rheingold” and “Walküre”

This week brought the first two operas of Richard Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by music director Fabio Luisi and to be presented in its entirety over the course of one week. These events are marking the first complete performances of the Ring cycle by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. (The DSO had performed Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in May 2024 and the entire cast from those performances returned to participate in the full cycle.)

Although these events are nominally concert settings, each performance featured limited action and atmospheric lighting within the concert hall to enhance the dramatic side of each work.

Das Rheingold, performed on Sunday, serves as a prelude for the deeper story told over the course of the subsequent operas; while the shortest by far of Warner’s tetralogy, it features a larger number of characters.

All of the performers were superb in their roles, but Mark Delavan as Wotan, Tómas Tómasson as Alberich, Štefan Margita as Loge and Liang Li as Fasolt made particularly strong impressions.

Tómasson’s Alberich perhaps showed the greatest range, his rich baritone conveyed an initial playfulness when attempting to woo the Rhinemaidens before later embodying the megalomania of the despotic leader of the Nibelungs and finally his bitter curse over the loss of the ring.

Delavan’s resonant baritone gave Wotan a commanding imperiousness befitting the king of the gods, while Margita’s contrasting tenor effectively marked Loge as the god’s duplicitous partner, alternately placating Wotan’s pleas and demands while revealing in asides his scorn for the gods. Indeed, the interaction on stage between these two further augmented the unease behind the characters’ unlikely collaboration.

Liang Li gave Fasolt an unexpected depth, revealing the giant’s desires for companionship through subtle hints of pathos in his basso register.

The remaining cast shone in their own rights even as they complemented the principals.

Deniz Uzun’s strong mezzo-soprano tones expressed Fricka’s overwhelming distress at Wotan’s bargain with the giants, yet also revealed the goddess’s own craving for gold and other trappings of power. Baritone Hunter Enoch as Donner and tenor Jamez McCorkle as Froh were fierce in their spoiling for a fight with the giants Fafner and Fasolt. Enoch later majestically called forth the thunderstorm and its accompanying rainbow leading into the fortress of Valhalla.

The spirited taunts of the Rhinemaidens (Valentina Farcas, Kimberly Gratland James, and Renée Tatum) as they mocked Alberich—essentially setting the events of the cycle in motion—eventually gave way to mournful pleas for Wotan to return their lost gold. Tamara Mumford’s stern contralto added weight to Erda’s warning to Wotan to avoid the ring. Andrew Harris as Fafner met Liang Li’s pathos with brutal ruthlessness, while tenor Michael Laurenz captured the oppressive misery experienced by Mime under his brother, Alberich.

The orchestra’s fluid playing under Luisi matched the singers so closely and continuously that long stretches could elapse during which a listener might not even be distinctly conscious of its presence. The orchestra did step forward in the opera’s instrumental highlights, notably the opening evocation of the Rhine river, with its somber brass and rushing strings, and the gods’ entry into Vallhalla, marked again by the regal sounds of the expanded brass section.

William McGinney | Oct 16, 2024