MUSIC: Gods and Gold

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In one area neither Levine nor any other conductor can dip into a treasure. The Ring is now impossible to cast in an entirely satisfactory style. There are no sopranos who are equal to the heavy demands of Brunnhilde. Nor are there any tenors strong enough to carry off Siegfried, perhaps the ultimate heroic role. Levine has picked expert singing actors who are musically sensitive. Polaski's voice is simply too light. As Siegfried, Wolfgang Schmidt delivers a poetic reading of the score, but his tone is dry and reedy. Tina Kiberg makes a passionate if shrill Sieglinde. As Wotan, John Tomlinson falters in the beginning but finds commanding style in Siegfried.

The real hero of the week was the Bayreuth orchestra. Its members work in a closed pit, invisible -- as is the conductor -- to the audience. The temperature there is fiery. But the musicians seemed ideally responsive to Levine, and at the end of Gotterdammerung, he paid them tribute by taking his bow standing among his sweaty, shirt-sleeved crew of 119. The roar of prolonged stamping reverberated through the hall, with not the echo of a boo.