In the Image of Mann: Matthew Rye reviews a ‘Ring’ staging that makes a very human drama out of the myth

The magnitude of the operatic scene in Germany never ceases to amaze. As an indication, in this season just finishing there were over three times as many Ring cycles on the go across the North Sea as there are full-time opera companies in the UK. Few of them outside the major metropolises make the headlines, but the staging from the Baltic port city of Lübeck, built up between 2007 and 2010, received sufficient acclaim in the German press to warrant being recorded for posterity on DVD.