Bayreuth. (International).(Ring Cycle)(Review)

Bayreuth connoisseurs say that one should never judge a new Ring cycle in its first year. The reasons are clear: the festival has about six weeks' intensive rehearsal time to get all four operas musically rehearsed and prepared for the stage in often technically intricate, intellectually challenging productions. Bayreuth is almost alone in today's jet-set opera world, in that it expects a stage director to return each summer to revise and refine his work. With the exception of Peter Hall, every Ring director for the last half-century has done exactly that. Director Jurgen Flimm himself admitted that much went awry a year ago, in the current cycle's first go-around. ...