Stripped back, bare, minimalist: not epithets you’d automatically apply to Wagner, the man who expects you to give over four days of your life to him every time you experience Der Ring des Nibelungen, and the composer whose orchestra is so huge that opera houses all over the world have to remove seats to accommodate it. But this act of paring down by Fulham Opera, directed by Peter Relton after an original production by Fiona Williams, produces a vividly intense, gripping Das Rheingold which keeps us spellbound from start to finish. As my companion said, “I didn’t expect it to be like this. I keep forgetting to breathe.”

Click here to read my full review on Bachtrack.