Less than two weeks after Victorian Opera’s Elektra, another opera in concert was presented in Melbourne, once again showing this approach isn’t necessarily the poor cousin of fully staged productions.

Of course, there wasn’t much to look at during Melbourne Opera’s one-off Siegfried concert, and the drama was somewhat diminished by the inevitably limited interaction between singers. With music almost entirely the focus, however, it satisfied mightily in that regard thanks to Melbourne Opera Orchestra, superbly led by British conductor Anthony Negus, and a fine all-Australian cast.

Lee Abrahmsen and Bradley Daley in Die Walküre, Melbourne Opera, 2022. Photo © Robin Halls

The third work in Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen tetralogy, Siegfried premiered in Bayreuth in 1876. Set 20 years after Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, it follows the titular character, a fearless youth who despises Mime, the dwarf who has raised him from infancy. Siegfried is the unwitting child of Sieglinde and Siegmund, and grandson of the god Wotan, who appears as the mysterious Wanderer. After forging anew his father’s broken sword, and killing both Mime and the giant-turned-dragon Fafner, Siegfried is led by a bird to...