Siegfried – review

Opera North's so-called "austerity Ring" continues to astonish, nowhere more so, perhaps, than with Siegfried, sometimes dubbed the cycle's scherzo, and the ­opera in which interpretative and ­directorial inspiration has a habit of faltering.

Opera North's approach – pared-down semi-stagings that place the emphasis on narrative clarity and ­psychological insight – proves ­effective here. Director-designer Peter ­Mumford wisely leaves us to imagine those scenes that never quite work in a full ­realisation, such as the shattering of Mime's anvil, or ­Siegfried's fight with the dragon. Video ­projections of bloody water, fire and stone underpin the ­shifting moods ­without ­intruding. And even though Mumford never leaps on any ­ideological bandwagon, the work's politics are very much there: when Michael ­Druiett's ­Wotan and Jo ­Pohlheim's Alberich ­wrangle at the ­entrance to Neidhölle, they look just like the pair of shady ­capitalists Wagner surely ­intended them to be.

As on previous ­occasions, the ­musical ­standards are high. ­Exciting as always, ­conductor ­Richard Farnes has a ­matchless ­understanding of the ­relationship ­between speed, detail and span in ­Wagner. His ­Siegfried, ­meanwhile, is Mati Turi, whose ­bullyboy ­characterisation might not be to ­everyone's taste, but who has both the voice and the stamina for the role – and, unlike some ­Siegfrieds, ­produces some ­wonderfully introverted soft singing in the ­Forest Murmurs.

Druiett's Wanderer, authoritative and sympathetic, makes the perfect foil for Pohlheim, whose Alberich, in a ­sensational company debut, is among the finest of recent years. There's also a perfectly judged Mime – cute yet ­irritating – from Richard Roberts.

But when Turi finally wakens ­Annalena Persson's Brünnhilde, she turns out to be squally in her upper register, which makes the final duet a bit anticlimactic after all that has gone ­before.