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Wagner: It hasn't happened yet...

neilmack said:
EMI issued the RAI recording, not the Scala performance.
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Quite. Sorry for the mistake. The Scala performance was even less well recorded than the RAI set. I had the complete RAI set and two of the four parts of the Scala set.

A long time ago, so please forgive the slip.

ATB from George
 
George J said:
Quite. Sorry for the mistake. The Scala performance was even less well recorded than the RAI set. I had the complete RAI set and two of the four parts of the Scala set.

A long time ago, so please forgive the slip.

ATB from George
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I have the scala set on cd. It's good in parts but the sound quality is unlistenable IMHO. Now the Krauss on the other hand I can and frequently do listen to
 
Five hours spent today listening to Wagner's Parsifal, why so long (?), but must admit I enjoyed it. This is obviously what my favourite composer, Schoenberg, had in mind when he wrote the first part of Gurrelieder. I must find a print copy of the libretto.

I'm still not convinced about the Ring though. I'm seriously thinking about some DVDs - which may help, or perhaps not. It may be too tonal for me.
 
neilmack said:
But how does Mrs Wagner ever bear on the matter? She had no input to the compositions. Her influence on performance practice (the infamous Bayreuth bark) largely vanished in the interwar period. Her politics were very much of their time for a ruling class German, but we are not listening to those.
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It was more of a comment about Liszt and that anti-Semitism is associated more with Wagner. Perhaps because of his essays. When I listen to Liszt, I don't think so much about the man outside of his music, but with Wagner it seems all too bound together.
 
nicetone said:
Windhoek - I liked the composer timeline overview in Post 48.

Though Elgar is not listed?
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Ah, just saw your post. It looks like Elgar wasn't included in the overall classical composer timeline overview - probably the most significant omission. He appears about halfway down this Romantic-era timeline, however, nestled between Christian Sinding and Ruggero Leoncavallo - neither of whom I've heard of before, and nor have I heard their music.

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"...Die Walküre coming up tomorrow with Bryn Terfel,"


But it`s conducted by Andrew Davis - how can that be good?
 
windhoek said:
Ah, just saw your post. It looks like Elgar wasn't included in the overall classical composer timeline overview - probably the most significant omission. He appears about halfway down this Romantic-era timeline, however, nestled between Christian Sinding and Ruggero Leoncavallo - neither of whom I've heard of before, and nor have I heard their music.
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You may have and not realised...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Gaddlgqgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXM43JsBIjw
 
I watched the first dvd of a seven dvd performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen the other evening. I must admit that it was very entertaining, it seems that I need the visuals as well.

The performance is from 1991/1992 at Bayreuth under Barenboim and only cost £40, quite good value?
 
My Ring dvds are up to the forging of the sword, now off to fight the dragon. It is still entertaining but I must admit that I am seeing Jung's archetypes all over the place!
 
Is this the Barenboim Ring box you have (link)? Does it come with an instruction manual/subtitles? DVD/Blu-Ray might just be the way to crack this one. I'm still enjoying my Solti CDs, but I've not a clue what any of it is about yet, I've just been treating it as music with vocal noises so far.
 
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Tony L said:
Is this the Barenboim Ring box you have (link)? Does it come with an instruction manual/subtitles? DVD/Blu-Ray might just be the way to crack this one.
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Yes, but I went for the DVD version. The subtitles are quite useful! It is good entertainment.
 
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You could try this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EBOP2GC/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21


Quite heavy going, but very well written, and has a good synopsis of story in the first half of the book. (I didn't manage to finish it - I had a library copy & didn't get much further in the two weeks before the library wanted it back!)

For getting to know it, nothing beats a live performance. (True of most Opera I think, it can be very hard to get engaged just by listening to the CDs, especially in this case where there are 14 of them to get through).

Just noticed this:

http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-ring

It will be expensive no doubt, but a good Ring cycle is a very special experience.
 
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I think that attraction to Wagner is like the attraction of moths to the flame of a candle. Irresistible until you hit the target. But once the target is reached there is no reason to live.

ATB from George
 
George Osborne and Michael Gove have been in Bayreuth to see The Ring in the last week or so.

Even though I hate them, Wagner's music is far more powerful than a pair of neoliberal Tory robbers.

Jack
 
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