If you’re leaving an important job it’s natural to make some kind of statement as you go; and Kasper Holten’s statement on stepping down as director of the Royal Opera is an opulent, in parts magnificent, in parts a complete mess, staging of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with an interesting if questionable sting in the tail.
The magnificence is largely musical. It’s an impressive cast, led by Bryn Terfel who takes the central, hugely taxing role of Hans Sachs in his stride – managing to sound almost as fresh, unflustered and perversely youthful (in a role that isn’t about youth) in the closing bars as he did at the start, five-and-a-half hours earlier. There’s no bigger sing than this for his voice-type and he handles it superbly – with miraculous assistance from Antonio Pappano, who conducts the score as though it were some great, immersive lovefest, tempering control with radiance.
