In an age of radical reinterpretations, conductor Gianandrea Noseda and director Andreas Homoki created a counterrevolutionary version of Wagner’s four-night, 15-hour Ring Cycle. It sparked 13 minutes of applause at the Zurich Opera House, with only one or two boos. Noseda, conducting Wagner’s epic for the first time just after his 60th birthday, invited the entire Philharmonic Zurich on stage for curtain calls Thursday night. Homoki avoided a strict adherence to Wagner’s original instructions, using relatively minimal if dull scenery to allow a psychological focus without distraction. Homoki says, “We understood this piece as being just a story about human nature, about society, about us."
