The Ring in Berlin Part 2: Doubt, Duty and Desire

Of the four productions that make up Guy Cassiers’ Ring cycle, Die Walküre is quite possibly the strongest. At its emotional and chronological centre is the meeting of Siegmund and Brünnhilde amidst a forest of tall green shafts which turn white at the arrival of the Valkyrie; even without the extra intensity provided by Daniel Barenboim’s majestically slow pace, it was a visually striking, dramatically potent moment. If no other scenes achieved as quite as perfect a union between sound, action and visual texture, many came close. Hunding’s grim dwelling split apart to reveal a luminous spring night; the bright red strands of light hanging above the mostly bare stage provided a minimal backdrop for the final confrontation between Brünnhilde and Wotan.

Leaving behind the unfocused maximalism of Rheingold, Walküre possessed a far greater…