IT is two years since the Halle and Sir Mark Elder gave an incandescent concert performance of Gotterdammerung, the final opera of Wagner’s mighty Ring cycle.

Last weekend, as part of the Manchester International Festival, they turned their attention to the second opera, Die Walkure.

The overriding theme is redemptive love and it was obvious Sir Mark loves this work deeply.

But perhaps he had too much love for the score; the second act was slow and would have benefited from a more forceful approach in its darker moments.

Even the final pages of act three flickered less brightly than they could have but there is no denying the superlative support and luminous playing from all sections of the orchestra.

The international cast was exceptional.

Egils Silins sang Wotan. Initially he appeared acutely nervous about the occasion.

In the event he gave a performance of outstanding nobility and subtlety.

The third act exchanges with Brunnhilde were redolent with pain and grief, with Silins partnered by Susan Bullock’s gleaming and thrilling Brunnhilde, whose voice rode the orchestra with ease and yet could find gentle eloquence in her dialogue with the radiant Sieglinde of Yvonne Howard.

Clive Bayley was a black-voiced, implacable Hunding and Susan Bickley’s haughty Fricka was a wife with whom one should not cross words.

Stig Andersen brought a wealth of experience to Siegmund, which he sang with unfailing lyricism and great power when required.

The pack of Valkyries hurled out their greetings at the beginning of act three with Katherine Broderick crowning their cavorting.

The opera was given over two days and so prior to act one there was Gerard McBurney’s The Madness Of An Extraordinary Plan, an hour-long “docu-collage” of words and music.

Roger Allam impersonated Wagner whilst Deborah Findlay and Sara Kestelman provided commentaries from various sources.