Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle, often described as a feat of artistic ambition and endurance, was distilled into a thrilling concert experience at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall last night with soprano Elena Pankratova under the assured baton of Domingo Hindoyan. This handpicked journey through the Ring brought drama, grandeur and pathos to life in a way that transcended the absence of sets and staging.
But it was far from a bare stage. No fewer than six harps, four Wagner tubas, and an expanded instrumental palette that included bass clarinet, contrabassoon, bass trumpet and contrabass trombone made it clear: Wagner liked his low notes.
The evening opened with the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla from Das Rheingold, a piece that shimmered with prophetic splendour. Hindoyan drew a majestic sound from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the brass bold, resplendent, and well-blended, while timpani rumbled ominously beneath. It set the tone perfectly — grandeur tinged with foreboding.
Pankratova joined the orchestra for Der Männer Sippe and Du bist der Lenz, both from Die Walküre. In the crystal-clear acoustic of the Philharmonic Hall, her Sieglinde was vivid and commanding, yet not without vulnerability. Her upper register soared with fearless power, while her control and vocal shading added emotional depth to each phrase. In the latter aria especially, a tender lyricism emerged — a beautiful contrast to the stormier passages that followed in The Ride of the Valkyries.
And what a ride it was. The orchestra tore into Wagner’s most recognisable theme with barely contained ferocity. Hindoyan’s pacing was taut, never bombastic, bringing clarity and structure to the chaos. The brass section — so often a make-or-break in Wagner — was nothing short of heroic, with the rasping contrabass trombone a particular highlight. That stormy energy softened into the Magic Fire Music, rendered with exquisite delicacy. The strings shimmered like veils of flame, and Hindoyan held the narrative thread tightly throughout.
After the interval, we entered Wagner’s psychological and musical forest. Forest Murmurs from Siegfried was atmospheric and finely detailed — Cormac Henry (flute), Helena Mackie (oboe), and Fiona Cross (clarinet) all shone, while leader Thelma Handy’s violin solo evoked the natural world with poise and warmth.
Siegfried’s Rhine Journey unfolded with a luminous, riverine quality, Hindoyan drawing on the orchestra’s fluid phrasing and transparent textures to capture the music’s natural ebb and flow. This segued into Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March, where a brooding weight settled over the music — one of the evening’s emotional peaks: tragic, noble and unrelenting.
The climax came, fittingly, with Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung. Pankratova returned with radiant vocal presence and deep emotional expression. Her voice cut through Wagner’s dense orchestration with ease, capturing both anguish and defiance. There were no flames, no set — and yet, the Philharmonic Hall seemed to burn with the intensity of the moment.
Though this was a concert performance, one missed little of the drama. Hindoyan has a gift for theatricality in concert form, and the RLPO responded with vivid, impassioned playing throughout. And by the end, it wasn’t just Pankratova who had a tear in her eye — I had several.
For Wagner aficionados, this was a rare treat, for newcomers, an ideal entry point into his extraordinary world. Pankratova’s performance alone was worth the ticket price, but with Hindoyan’s clear vision and the orchestra effortlessly in top form, this was musical storytelling at its most compelling — a searing, spellbinding evening that proved you don’t need staging to feel the full weight of Wagner’s genius.
Reviewer: Mark Humphreys
Reviewed: 1st May 2025
North West End UK Rating: