Siegfried has had excellent reviews, and for a good reason. It is brilliant, although I must admit I yawned a few times during the last act - but that was all Wagner's fault. Another slight fault in my eyes are the Wanderer's overtones of a Buddhist monk - a bit cringy, but on the other hand not totally without a point.

Due to illness Tommi Hakala did not sing the Wanderer's part, but his replacement, Tomasz Konieczny, was magnificent. I had goosebumps whenever he was singing, especially in the first act. All the singers were good, as was the orchestra led by Hannu Lintu. The first act is set in a "forest" of rusty pillars, with Mime's smithy in a camper van surrounded by oil drums and gym equipment. The second act is more abstract with narrow structures lit from the inside, where the dragon lives. The dragon is visible only in video, with Fafner's face when he is speaking and as a snake when he moves. Quite impressive, especially when I remember the ridiculous papier mâché dragon from the previous Siegfried at Töölö Bay. In the third act the abstraction increases further and there is hardly anything except mountain tops and fire, and the two innocents singing interminably.

If I were a fundamentalist Asa believer I might find this drivel called the Ring offensive, but as I am not, I realize these characters have nothing to do with their mythological and semi-historical counterparts, and it is best to forget the Eddas, Völsungasaga and particularly the Nibelungenlied. It is all Wagner's own psychology and philosophy. The Nazi elite assembling in Bayreuth were ridiculous. They can't have understood anything.