The Ring begins with music that evokes the very dawn of time. From this moment we are plunged into the watery twilight beneath the river Rhine, transported to misty mountain-tops and to the depths of gloomy Nibelheim, before crossing the rainbow bridge that leads to Valhalla, fortress home of the gods. Set in a world populated by dwarfs and giants, gods and river-maidens, Wagner’s ‘preliminary evening’ to the Ring sets the whole epic cycle in motion in thrilling fashion.