The new production at Santa Fe Opera, directed by Bruno Ravella, managed to capture much of the opera’s fine emotional balance, but was perhaps even more notable for the quality of its musical performances, especially the Marschallin of Rachel Willis-Sørensen and the taut musical direction of Karina Canellakis

If 'Khovanshchina' is rarely described as a masterpiece, this was the production to make one wonder why

If the evening’s vocal and orchestral forces revealed occasional moments of sentimentality in the score, such moments were far outnumbered by passages of emotional candour and grandly wrought beauty

Christian Thielemann is among the few modern conductors to have recorded the two unnumbered Bruckner symphonies in the context of a complete cycle, and his recent guest appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic offered audiences the chance to hear these rarities in performances of the highest possible calibre

However if Rusalka had its moments of frustration – both musically and theatrically – these were generally outweighed by the conviction of the central performances and the wealth of memorable imagery.

Ms Karabulut sought to bring unity to the diverse materials of Il Trittico by returning to Puccini’s original inspiration in Dante, but also by interpreting the title of the cycle – the Triptych – in its most painterly sense.

If the Symphony No.7 finale was unreservedly triumphant in tone, it was the emotional ambiguities of the earlier movements – and of Mr Widmann’s songs – that made the evening so captivating