Wagner: Rienzi

In Rienzi, the young Wagner took a Europe-wide bestseller of power, rebellion and mob violence in medieval Rome, and transformed it into the grandest of grand operas. His first major success, it’s rarely performed today, but Jorge Lavelli’s 2013 staging for the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse makes a powerful impact – stripping away the merely scenic elements and drawing on both French and German theatrical traditions to lay bare the heart of the drama. Pinchas Steinberg conducts with authentic Wagnerian sweep, and Torsten Kerl is thrilling in the title role – which, in Rienzi’s prayer "Allmächt'ger Vater", contains one of Wagner’s sublimest melodies.