Holding Fire: Roland Matthews has mixed feelings about the first instalment of Richard Jones’s third foray into the ‘Ring’ cycle

The London stage has offered slim pickings this season for Wagner enthusiasts. With a revival of David Alden’s 2018 Lohengrin the only work in the Royal Opera schedule this new production of The Valkyrie by English National Opera was particularly welcome. The launch of a Ring cycle planned over the next five years under the baton of music director Martyn Brabbins, it is the first time ENO has staged the Ring in over fifteen years. Expectations were understandably high; if they were not ultimately fulfilled, the evening gave promise at least of future accomplishments.