Rave review for James Gaffigan and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Cincinnati Business Courier

REVIEW: Wagner’s ‘Ring without Words’ impresses under CSO guest conductor James Gaffigan
By Janelle Gelfand
Cincinnati Business Courier
Oct. 28, 2023

Many orchestras have presented individual numbers in concert from Richard Wagner’s “Ring” Cycle – “The Ring of the Nibelungen.” Even people who are not opera fans will recognize “Ride of the Valkyries,” which is regularly heard in pop culture such as Looney Toons’ “Kill the Wabbit” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.”

In 1987, conductor Lorin Maazel arranged orchestral excerpts from Wagner’s entire cycle of four vast music dramas, weaving them into one sprawling, continuous suite for the Cleveland-based record company Telarc. He basically compressed 17 hours of opera into 70 orchestral minutes.

On Oct. 27, guest conductor James Gaffigan led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Maazel’s arrangement of Wagner’s “Der Ring ohne Worte” (“The Ring Without Words”), which is being heard this weekend in Music Hall for the first time. It was an entertaining evening, and the orchestra offered an impressive and often thrilling performance of Wagner’s music. Gaffigan was a commanding presence as he confidently led the musicians through Wagner’s epic tale of Norse mythology, from the depths of the Rhine in the opening “Das Rheingold,” to the swirling flames that engulf Valhalla in the concluding “Götterdämmerung “ (“Twilight of the Gods”).

Gaffigan, a native of New York, has visited the Cincinnati Symphony several times previously, and regularly guest-conducts major orchestras around the world. His prowess in leading these operatic excerpts may be aided by the fact that he is currently the music director of two opera houses. He is beginning his tenure as general music director of Komische Oper Berlin and is in his third season as music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, where he has conducted operas such as Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.”

Gaffigan opened his program with an Overture by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz and Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” The second half consisted entirely of “The Ring Without Words,” which journeys chronologically through the “greatest hits” of four operas: “Das Rheingold,” “Die Walküre” (“The Valkyrie”), “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung.”

It was stunning to hear this music performed onstage instead of in the orchestra pit. The huge forces arrayed on the stage included four harps, eight horns (three of whom doubled on Wagner tubas), two sets of timpani and expanded winds and brass. The music was performed in one unbroken span, so it helped that the orchestra projected titles of the excerpts, allowing concertgoers to follow along.

The atmosphere of the opening “Greenish Twilight” of the Rhine was remarkable. The listener was immersed in distant horn calls over a deep pedal point in the basses and rolling waves of sound in the strings. Scenes unfolded vividly, from the glowing harp music (led by principal harpist Gillian Benet Sella) and trumpet fanfares of “Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” to the “Hammering Dwarfs Smithying Away” on anvils, played offstage.

Transitions were seamless – and also quick. We were barely through Donner’s Thunderbolt, when it seemed we were in the massive storm music that opens “Die Walküre.” Gaffigan’s tempos were excellent, but especially memorable for the driving intensity of “The Ride of the Valkyries.” It was a spinetingling highlight and the orchestra – especially the brass – performed with magnificent precision. (With the whole orchestra at full throttle, though, it was the only time I wished for even more brass.)

The conductor swept up the orchestra in an impassioned outpouring for the “Magic Fire Music.” There was much to admire, too, in “Siegfried,” especially in “Forest Murmurs,” with its twittering birds in the winds (principal flute Randolph Bowman, principal clarinet Christopher Pell and principal oboe Dwight Parry) and a ravishing violin solo by concertmaster Stefani Matsuo.

The three trumpets – the CSO’s new principal trumpet Anthony Limoncelli, Alexander Pride and Christopher Kiradjieff -- were superb throughout, nowhere so much as in the difficult music of Siegfried’s “Slaying of the Dragon.” The conductor allowed principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn time for expressive phrasing in Siegfried and Brunnhilde’s tender love music, which opens “Götterdämmerung.” One cannot omit the excellence of the trombones, led by principal Cristian Ganicenco, or the horns and Wagner tubas, led by principal hornist Elizabeth Freimuth. Freimuth performed her two offstage solos with aplomb.

Gaffigan’s clear view and pacing gave excellent shape to the overall work. The audience rose instantly with bravos and the orchestra allowed him to take his own bow.

To open the evening, the conductor introduced the Overture by Bacewicz, a Polish composer who studied with the renowned Nadia Boulanger in Paris. The brief work was attractive and well crafted. Composed during the Nazi occupation of 1943, it was inventive and even ahead of its time for the use of propulsive rhythms. Gaffigan followed with a refined reading of Mozart’s Serenade in G, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” Although it’s been overplayed through the years, it was refreshing to hear the serenade played by the CSO’s strings with expressive beauty and light articulation.

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