Götterdämmerung – review

The definitive production of Wagner's Ring will never exist: even 16 hours is not nearly long enough to explore all the baggage this work carries with it. You can't say Keith Warner hasn't had a jolly good try; but, despite some honing since five years ago, the closing instalment of his Ring remains as perplexing and dramatically cluttered as the other three.

The two central characters, however, are at their best, allaying any previous niggling doubts. Stefan Vinke is in valiant form as Siegfried, matched by Susan Bullock's Brünnhilde; as the stage goes up in flames and the golden statues of the gods are lowered into their furnaces, she soars through the final scene.

Wolfgang Koch is recovered and in good voice as Alberich, stealing into his son Hagen's dreams to urge his evil plans onwards – not that John Tomlinson, who carries much of this production on his veteran shoulders, seems to need the prompting. Peter Coleman-Wright is more a dramatic than a vocal presence as Gunther, but Rachel Willis-Sørensen gleams as Gutrune. The chorus, heard for the only time in the cycle, sound immense.

Warner said recently that the end of the Ring should be a kind of handover of responsibility for the world, from Brünnhilde to us, the audience. The Gap-advert-style models he brings on at the end sadly don't look much like anyone sitting near me. And yet, whether the director's message works or not, the power of experiencing all four works in little over a week still trumps everything else in opera. That's largely due to the orchestra, something acknowledged by Antonio Pappano when he brings the players on stage to take a bow. During his decade at this address, Pappano's Wagner has grown in stature. It is unflagging in its architecture and distinctively dynamic – and his musicians are indeed too good to be left in the pit.