Das Rheingold is a work of intensely dramatic exposition… This Hamburg performance… goes all for the drama, to the point where the characters sometimes almost stop singing and begin to shout. …Simone Young conducts all the crucial confrontations with fierce energy, and relaxes the tempo for orchestral passages. This orchestra is exceptionally fine, and it's hard to believe that they played so flawlessly without any 'patching'. The whole thing is a thrilling, involving experience.

Young is an alert accompanist of voices and brings a special menace to all the Nibelheim music. A plus here… is the ensemble performing - the Rhinedaughters evidently "know" each others' voices; the giants, Mime and Loge sound like they're used to dialoguing with each other. Koch's Alberich has power and imaginative use of the text... I have found this new Rheingold - an event to hear whole, rather than sample - increasingly compelling in the insights provided by the conductor and the recording.