Performer: Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO give an orchestral performance to remember, with a fine singing cast, but Simon McBurney's staging dials the bleakness to maximum too early.

Following his Requiem at the 2019 Aix Festival, Romeo Castellucci surprises us with the purity and humility of his Mahler Second, conducted remarkably by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence gives us a definitive performance of Wagner's opera – but for listening only.