Two nights ago, Lorin Maazel, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, crossed Lincoln Center Plaza to the Metropolitan Opera. There he conducted “Die Walküre,” plucked out of Wagner’s “Ring.” ...

Last night was Wagner night at the New York Philharmonic. Did they do Act I of Die Walküre? No, there were no singers. They played Lorin Maazel’s Ring synthesis—his “Ring without Words.” This is a ...