It was a wonderful meal that had been cooked, for me. Colour, taste, variety and I was hungry too. Radio 3 was playing in the background. It was a Saturday night so highly likely that we would get a touch of opera. Only this time it was Herr Wagner and his cosmic drama, the Ring of the Nibelung. We had, unbeknown to us, reached Act 3 of the second part and the ride of the Valkyries. The music was electrifying. Wagner had marshalled all of his musicality into this intense moment, and he sustains it for far longer than other composers, perhaps until he has engaged our full attention.

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