AN ESTIMATED 175,000 people around the world had to chat among themselves until the second instalment of the Met's Ring Cycle got off to a late start.

The hold-up was down to the malfunctioning of the most talked-about and controversial aspect of Robert Lepage's production: the row of gigantic, pivoting metal planks that combine with constantly changing video projections to make up the set.

Some people have found this staging to be distracting or even ridiculous, but occasionally it creates some stunning imagery.

As for Wagner's music, it could hardly sound more lush and gorgeous than it does in the hands of conductor James Levine.

Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek sang the incestuous lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde with enormous sensitivity and passion. Bryn Terfel was a powerful presence again as Wotan lord of the gods, and Deborah Voigt was moving as his Valkyrie daughter Brunnhilde.

Scale and grandeur were there in spades, but so -- with the help of plenty of close-ups in the HD telecast -- was the tenderness and beauty that is just as much a part of Wagner's epic.