Pomp and Circumstance: Richard Laing marvels at a concert performance both ravishing and relevant

Review of Das Rheingold (concert perf.), conducted Kirill Petrenko, Berlin, 2026.  

July 2026, Volume 20, Number 2, 78–80.

‘It’s no longer a Gesamtkunstwerk’, explains Kirill Petrenko in his interview with Berlin Philharmonic violinist Eva-Maria Tomasi. Certainly, in a concert performance most of the action must take place in the mind of the audience. But there is much to be gained, as the conductor explains: ‘The text – the “poetic intent” as the Master called it – is translated into emotions by the music. The music explains what the singers express with their words, or what they conceal. The music communicates this directly to the listeners’ senses. In a concert performance you can achieve this in some respects much more succinctly than you can in a pit.’