Opera North Ring Cycle

Gotterdammerung

Leeds Town Hall, May 29

OPERA North's monumental project to present Wagner's Ring Cycle -Der Ring des Nibelungen – in its original language – has evolved in annual instalments since Das Rheingold in 2011.

For the first time since 1975/76, when English National Opera toured their 'English' Ring to Leeds Grand Theatre, audiences have been able to absorb Wagner's 'Stage Festival Play' within a single week.

Opera North's strategic creative decision to liberate the musicians from the confines of the orchestra pit and place them on the concert platform has enabled an orchestra of 120 to create the authentic 'Wagner sound'.

The ultimate strength of Peter Mumford's dramatised concert format lies in his gift for coaxing subtle characterisations from the singers. Kelly Cae Hogan's radiant Brunnhilde, Mati Turi's burnished Siegfried, Mats Almgren's dark and cavernous Hagen and Jo Pohlheim's malevolent Alberich have all grown into Mumford's concept.

Mumford's extensive use of video footage, surtitles and a narrative English text projected onto three cinema-sized screens never detracts from the music. Perhaps even more importantly, these complex music dramas have now become accessible to a wider audience. Opera North's strapline 'A Ring Cycle for Everyone' will soon resonate in concert halls around the country – and with ample justification.

Throughout the five hours of Gotterdammerung (the Twilight of the Gods), the luminous quality of orchestral textures and the elemental power of climactic moments were uppermost in my mind. Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey was exquisitely drawn; Siegfried's Funeral March had solemn grandeur and devastating force. The end of the world seemed nigh when Valhalla went up in flames and the Rhine burst its banks after Brunnhilde's Immolation scene.

The 50-strong Chorus of Opera North make their sole Ring Cycle appearances as Gibichung vassals in Hagen's gripping Call To Arms and the wedding feast for Gunther and Brunnhilde. These tension-laden scenes, with the incisive chorus and the orchestra of Opera North embellished by off-stage Wagner tubas, steerhorns and extra trumpets in the side balconies, becomes an all-enveloping sonic experience in the spacious acoustic of Leeds Town Hall.

The evening belonged, in a sense, to conductor, Richard Farnes, whose marvellous Orchestra of Opera North have played like angels for these unforgettable Ring Cycles. Farnes' final Leeds performance as ON music director was greeted by a richly deserved five-minute standing ovation.

Opera North's Ring Cycle now goes on tour, but not before the orchestra has taken part in a rare performance of Mahler's gargantuan Symphony No 8 in Leeds Town Hall on Saturday.

Geoffrey Mogridge