Negus2

When the first two installments were performed at Byham Hall in July, the reception was generally good, including favorable press reviews from both the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (“a successful weekend’s experience”) and the Post Gazette (“remarkably satisfying”). Negus, too, was happy with the results. “The reception was terrific,” he said of the audience reaction, adding that at both rehearsals and live performances the orchestra and he felt they had accomplished what they set out to do. “We can be very proud of the fact that we managed to make it in the end. Many of them [orchestra members] came up to me and said how enormously they enjoyed it.”
Still, this version has yet to gain legs in the United States. There are no offers to take it elsewhere and give it a try – at least not yet. But in perfect British humor, Negus addressing a doubt expressed by another Wagner fan who said that seeing a shortened “Ring” would be like seeing only the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, answered “But most of the Sistine Chapel is on the ceiling.”
Look, he says, “there’s no substitute for hearing it in the full version. All I can say is I have been a great Wagner lover and studier, and I have worked on Wagner since my teens and I assisted very fine conductors and heard great performances, and I look at it in a positive spirit. I’ve had many, many reactions from people who know the real “Ring” and love it, and they’re really quite amazed. And they say how authentic the sound is, even though it’s on a smaller scale.”
The latter point is worth explaining.
A large part of the success of this version has to be attributed to two things: Negus’ decision to deviate from the original Dove orchestra of only eighteen strings, and increase the size of the orchestra to 37, supplemented with the organ, and a libretto that has been artfully translated by Andrew Porter. With regard to the orchestra, Negus says, “I can take some credit for that in the sense that I’ve got in my mind a kind of idealized sound, or sound of what I think it should sound like. And while you cannot create the full sound completely, I mean if you try you over blow. But you can create the sense of the line and sense of climax and dynamic.”
To ensure the closest match to what Wagner wanted, Negus says, he was “enormously attentive to Wagner’s dynamic markings which make it possible for you to hear the singers because he writes so precisely for the orchestra. And the fact that I’ve been working with this version for five years helps.”
With regard to the translation he gives all the credit to Andrew Porter, whom he considers “one of the most distinguished writers” of his era. “The Andrew Porter translation,” he points out, “is the one which was done by the English National Opera under Goodall in the 1970s.” To the translation, Negus says, he and Eaton added “greater specificity” through judicious, very difficult cuts.
Indeed, while one of the strengths of the Porter translation, according to Negus, was the fact Porter had such a detailed knowledge of Wagner’s libretto, where the Dove version was shorter, it required even more cuts, and so he and Eaton, whom he says is “keen about English diction and making the words known to the audience as far as possible” began to cut ever further. “I will say with pride,” he beams of the final version “in this version the decisions were extremely radical and brave. Because if it had been a little bit here and cut a little bit more there, it would have been frustrating in the extreme. The cuts have been done in such a way that you really get a sense of the sound.”
True, he admits, “it gives a simplified picture and you have to be aware that there are things missing,” he stresses, then adds that “the important thing is there are enough people who believe what an absolutely staggering masterpiece [The Ring] is, with all its faults. It’s one of those giant achievements. It’s deeply moving and it stirs people to the depths.”
He interrupts himself and hums several bars, the e-major section at the very end, “based on Brunnhilde’s discovery of love, which comes in the first part of their duet then blossoms into a symphonic interlude. Conducting that last night,” he says reflectively, “was for me really very, very deeply fulfilling, and the sound was close to the real sound. It was not like the full orchestra," he says, "but it created a real glow in sound and it managed to blossom, and it was very satisfying and I loved it.”
Commenting on the production, Mark Kanny, writing for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, summed it up best: “This weekend’s production of ‘The Ring’ is a triumph for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, a very small-budget company that, through affiliation with Long Beach, Calif., Opera and the Pittsburgh Symphony, has introduced a supreme masterpiece to our community.” You can't do much better than that!

Scene 1.
Prelude has been reduced.
The seduction of Alberich by Wellgunde and Flosshilde has been cut.
Other small cuts in the scene.

Scene 2.
The Wotan/Fricka scene is complete.
Freia's entry has been curtailed.
In the giant's section, Fasolt's opening is shorter and the later speech about Wotan the keeper and the contract has been cut.
Character of Froh has been submerged into Donner.
There is some shortening of Loge's first section, but his big narration from "Never one word of praise or thanks" is complete.
Some short cuts later in scene.
Interlude to Nibelheim has been shortened but the substance and anvils are there.

Scene 3.
The Character of Mime has been cut.
The scene starts with Alberich's "Tremble in terror" and the carnival of Loge and Wotan. From there, some small cuts, but the basic scene is left with both dragon and toad episode.

Scene 4.
Loge, Alberich, Wotan scene: this scene up to and including the curse is complete.
Arrival of Freia and Giants shortened, but the substantial scene up to and including Erda is intact.
After that, short cuts, but full battle of the giants for the ring remains.
After Donner's He da he do. a cut in Wotan's solo: "Evening rays flood the sky" returning for the 'great idea' -- the trumpet solo in C 'So greet I the hall'; from there to the end is complete.

Act 1.
The prelude is shortened but is representative.
A small cut has been made from the opening scene (Siegmund's hounds).
Hunding's arrival remains intact.
First part of Siegmund's narration shortened.
The section with Siegmund alone, shortened.

In scene three, the Sieglinde/Siegmund interaction is complete, save one small cut.
Cut to Sieglinde "And your gleaming glance" and then there are almost no cuts until the end of Act 1. This version leads straight into the music of introduction of Act II.
The Wotan/Brunnhilde short scene is complete.
Fricka's first section is cut, but the scene is almost complete from "O why mourn. . . "
There is a short cut when Brunnhilde is alone with Wotan, but Wotan's monologue is complete except for one small cut. This version's Act I ends with Brunnhilde alone after Wotan's furious departure.
The Siegmund/Sieglinde scene has been cut.

Act II
There is a short prelude based on the end of the original Act III.
The Brunnhilde/Siegmund Annunciation of Death is complete, except for a small cut.
When Siegmund is alone with Sieglinde the "chorus of sleep" has been shortened, but the rest of the scene is complete until the death of Siegmund and Brunnhilde's fight with Sieglinde. The music leads straight into "Ride of the Valkyries".
There is a shortened scene with 4 Valkyries, but from Brunnhilde's hurried embrace with Sieglande it is almost complete. After Wotan enters, there are some cuts but it is still a substantive scene.
Final scene is complete, except for a small cut -- after the Walsungs.
No cut in farewell scene.