"Recording of the week: Kosky takes the bold step of putting Wagner himself literally centre-stage: we open in Wagner's home, Wahnfried, with the composer fussing extravagantly over silks and perfumes, his wife Cosima battling a migraine, and his father-in-law Liszt arriving to play through a piano-duet version of the Prelude ... Kosky invites us to warm to Wagner the craftsman at the same time as confronting his flaws as a human being ... The cast is a mixture of Bayreuth veterans and debutants, and both camps cover themselves in glory ... At the heart of it all is Michael Volle's towering interpretation of Sachs/Wagner: he inhabits both personae with tremendous authority ... It's an immensely thought-provoking and ultimately very moving take on this most conflicted of operas"