Mark Stobbs is director of the Bar Standards Board and unofficial culture critic of legalweek.com

Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is one of the major challenges for any opera house: four operas, lasting an average of four hours each (and the first act of the final opera has more music in it than many full-length operas); a huge orchestra; and vast voices. It also needs to meet the expectations of passionate Wagnerians, who are probably the hardest people on the planet to please.