Ever since the grandiose failure of Sir Peter Hall's staging of Der Ring des Nibelungen in Bayreuth two summers ago, Wagnerites have been anticipating the San Francisco Opera's new production of the epic four-evening cycle. For although it is common knowledge in the opera world that there are not enough voices of heroic Wagnerian caliber around these days, just put on a Ring and watch the paying customers line up.
The San Francisco production proved well worth waiting for. Indeed, blessed with a first-rate cast, a skilled if not always inspired conductor, and a director with strong dramatic ideas about the...