By Andrew Clark [Financial Times, 18 April 2006]
At curtain-down on Monday the Royal Opera passed the virility test of any self-respecting opera ensemble: it completed a new Ring, the first in its renovated Covent Garden home. It was a cause for minor rejoicing, not just because the evening was more successful than the three previous instalments of the Antonio Pappano-Keith Warner production, but because we can now look forward to the first integrated cycle of Wagnerís tetralogy in London for a decade. Unlike English National Operaís recent attempt, which foundered through lack of funds and willpower, the Royal Opera promises three complete Ring cycles in 18 monthsí time, and is already marketing them.