Concert Review | 'Wagner Without Words' 

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The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Thursday concert at Kodak Hall was dedicated largely to a composer whose influence is widespread, even if his music is infrequently performed in symphonic settings. The Romantic composer Richard Wagner changed the face of opera forever with his meta approach to artistic scope, his vivid sense of orchestration, and the force of his personality.

In any fair assessment of Wagner and his impact — particularly given the current harrowing sociopolitical climate — it would be irresponsible to not call out his well-documented anti-Semitism, as well as Adolf Hitler’s affinity for Wagner’s music. These details contribute to the legacy The New Yorker’s music critic Alex Ross described as “the muzak of genocide” in his book “Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music.”

Wagner’s greatest achievement, the four-part operatic epic “Ring Cycle,” is an enduring testament to that legacy, represented on the RPO’s program with “Ring Without Words,” arranged by famed conductor Lorin Maazel.

Under RPO Music Director Andreas Delfs, the members of the orchestra were dutiful in their execution of Wagner’s sonic vision. It would have been all too easy for Delfs and company to give a blustery performance that barreled ahead without nuance. But the orchestra achieved a warm, lyrical sound throughout, even during rigorous passages such as the indelible “Ride of the Valkyries.”

Delfs, in his usual understated style, conducted with urgency, and the orchestra played vigilantly and in-step. Compared to many RPO concerts, the brass section did much of the heavy lifting, with the heroic timbre of the French horns ringing out for the duration of the piece.

If the concert contained any caveat, it was a raw emotionality of Wagner’s music that the RPO never quite accessed. Whether it was “Ring Without Words,” which closed the concert, or the Prelude to Act III of the opera “Lohengrin,” the sound was almost stately. But the composer’s sound world is wild at heart, even chaotic at times. Reaching that emotional state can lead to a transcendent performance, in which the music feels as if it could go off the rails at any moment, but never does. Instead, the RPO delivered a too-measured rendering that was tamer than the notes Wagner committed to the page.
Soprano and Metropolitan opera star Christine Goerke was the guest soloist, demonstrating why she is on the short list of top Wagnerian singers. Though her voice type is dramatic, suitable of handling music that requires great strength and stamina, Goerke sustained a light tone.

At times, particularly in her interpretation of the aria “Dich, teure Halle (Dear Hall)” from “Tannhäuser,” she sang with a tightly wound vibrato and agile phrasing. In Giacomo Puccini’s aria “In questa reggia (In this palace),” from “Turandot,” Goerke’s purity of tone, especially in the upper register of voice, suggested coloratura tendencies.
Perhaps the most emotionally affecting of her performances was “Andromache’s Farewell” by Samuel Barber, in which the widow of Hector of Troy mourns the impending death of her young son as she says goodbye to him for the last time: Was it nothing that I nursed you, that I suffered? Consumed my heart with cares, all for nothing?

As a whole, the RPO’s program “Wagner Without Words” is a clear misnomer, but it’s no less effective for it. While the evening’s entertainment was far from lighthearted, it was uplifting in its portrayal of both human strength and frailty.

The concert repeats on Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m. at Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall. Tickets range from $18 to $104. rpo.org

Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].