RSNO: Wagner’s Ring Naked, Usher Hall, Review

Rating (out of 5)
5

In Naked Classics the presenter’s aim is to give a broad introduction to the chosen work in the first half of the concert, and for the orchestra to play the work all the way through after the interval. Paul Rissmann had chosen Wagner’s Ring Cycle, an opera in four parts and sixteen hours in the playing.

Fortunately Henk de Vlieger’s arrangement of 1991 for a concert performance by an orchestra only last about seventy minutes. It is divided into fourteen sections and includes all the fiery music and particularly the major themes and leitmotifs.

Paul Rissmann is really good at creating presentations which are part real music from sections of the orchestra, interviews with at least the conductor and some really imaginative graphics on a large screen high above the players. Each time he comes to the Usher Hall his presentation excels, and his skills, excellent though they already are, improve. And I always say to myself - if only I had been taught the basics of music in the way he tackles an audience of two thousand.

The early part of the presentation concentrated on leitmotifs. With the aid of the music score on screen and individual players and instruments we were learning one of Wagner’s methods. We learned how the strings, unusually, don’t have the role of outlining the tune in The Ring. We learned too the outline of a slightly complicated tale at the heart of the opera.

It was good to see four Wagner tubas, somewhere between a French horn and a tuba, invented by Wagner for The Ring played at times by four French horn players. In all there were nine French horn players. The long contrabass trombone, also a Wagner invention, was pointed out.

Just a little light comedy on screen helped keep us alert. The Swiss conductor, Philippe Bach, on his first visit to the Usher Hall was asked to translate a couple of instructions in German on the score - in his native language. Paul Rissmann showed us how a web browser had translated them, and they bore no resemblance.

After the interval the audience was far more aware of what to listen out for, and to enjoy a very moving performance of the best parts of Wagner’s The Ring. I suspect the many teenage children enjoying the free tickets gained every bit as much as the older generations.

Event: Friday 10 May 2013 at 7.30pm