Keith Warner's Ring cycle provoked widely divergent opinions when the four operas were presented individually between 2004 and 2006. Warner has apparently made changes to Das Rheingold since its first outing. Initial accusations that his production was over-cluttered seem unfounded on this showing, though it is also clear that he still thinks primarily in terms of symbols, rather than narrative focus. He equates Alberich's theft of the gold with the violation of nature, and envisions its consequences not only in terms of monetarist exploitation, but also as involving the abuse both of science and of the human body. The scenes in Nibelheim have a ferocious power.

The gods are presented as Victorian capitalists, immured in the false safety of a black-walled drawing room from which they scrutinise external reality through a telescope. The idea is effective, though hardly new.

John Tomlinson remains a formidable Wotan. You sense the rapacity and the potential for brutality that lurk behind the barely civilised veneer. Pitted against him, however, is the Alberich of Peter Sidhom - a terrifying depiction of power-hungry insanity and one of the finest performances of the role to be heard for years.

Elsewhere, things are musically more uneven. Philip Langridge is the funny-yet-malign Loge, Rosalind Plowright an occasionally squally, unimaginative Fricka. Antonio Pappano's conducting balances aggression with grandeur, though his speeds are on the slow side. One cannot, however, judge a Ring on Das Rheingold alone and time will tell how this cycle develops.

· Until October 26. Box office: 020-7304-4000. A version of this review appeared in later editions of yesterday's paper.