Four operas, sixteen hours, nine gods, twelve mortals, three water-nymphs, two giants, one superhero and a dragon: there is no greater adventure in music than Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.
To make sure of it, the composer even had to invent new instruments and design a new theatre. Lorin Maazel’s ‘symphonic synthesis’ of Wagner’s epic saga achieves the impossible: condensing all the most thrilling, touching, invigorating and overwhelming moments from the Ring cycle into a little under 80 minutes.
Don’t worry, you will miss neither characters nor voices as the Ring’s gods, heroes and demons float like galleons upon an ocean of orchestral sound. All the tension, love, grandeur, anger, scheming, ecstasy and rebirth of the most compelling opera ever created is revealed in this voiceless tapestry, conducted for us here by Erik Nielsen.