Which Das Rheingold...

[knight66]

Testament are going to issue a Ring by Kempe. There are studio excerpts of Rheingold on EMI and if they are anything to go by, then the full live performances will be worth the wait. The EMI recording shows a lyrical flow and a pace that feels exactly right, there is the ability to build a climax; he is my sort of Wagner conductor.

Mike

[Anne]

  Anne I applaud your efforts in teaching your 8 year old grandson the Ring  .  My parents first took me to the opera when I was 10 years old.  We went to see Carmen and then Don Giovanni.  I enjoyed carmen but I will admit that I fell asleep during the Don Giovanni performance.  Funny how after 25 years it has become one of my favorite Mozart operas.  How is your grandson responding to the Ring?  Is he enjoying the singing and the music?  I would imagine that all the characters especially the dragons and giants would interest a young boy.   

  marvin

It was no problem teaching him the Ring.  I read on a different BB than this one someone else had taught his son/grandson the Ring.

We first watched the Levine/Met DVD of Das Rheingold.  We would watch a short piece and then I would stop the DVD and explain what we had seen.  Next I would explain what was coming next in the DVD and then we would watch.  I also explained the motifs (just a few).  You know already how well an 8-yr-old boy would respond to the giants' motif.  It almost ended our study as he loved stomping around.  Like I had said before, we just slid right over any incest discussions and never even mentioned it.  There was so much other info that he needed to understand that he never asked.  I was counting on that and was glad he never asked.

He liked the idea of Alberich enslaving Mime. In fact he was planning to enslave his younger brother with great zeal.  It was summertime and the windows were open.  I was sure that our house was the only one with Alberich and Mime playing in the trees.

He loved Siegfried making his new sword and planned to do the same thing with the appropriate loud banging.  He also liked the Walkuries.  I explained what was happening with Brunhilde and why she was fearful of Wotan's anger.  We really jazzed it up when from a distance there was a sighting of Wotan arriving angry.  He was so much fun to work with because he caught on quickly and retained every thing.

It was about at this point that we had to stop because his mother was moving downstate where schools were available to learn law.

I never told him he was supposed to be fearful of this opera; nor did I tell him this was work from the great Wagner.  Since no one told him to be afraid, he wasn't.

My other grandson had ADHD and was 4 years old.  As you may know, young ADHD children are quite restless and have an extremely short attention span.  One day I taught him to love Hansel und Gretel.  Because he was younger, I'd quite frequently stop the DVD and explain what was coming.  Our witch was not very scary and we did not talk about her eating children.  Being 4 yrs old, he was at one of the usual times that children are prone to nightmares.  That little boy was glued to that TV and he loved the story.  We took the time to pause the opera and actually sing the "Brother, come and dance with me," and then dance as H and G did.  We used the Solti DVD.  He was spellbound all the way to the end of the opera.

The next day he asked if we could play the opera again.  I put it on and did not explain anything this time wanting to know how much he retained from the day before.  I only one other time saw him intently focused on the TV.  From the time that opera started, he never moved a muscle.  The only other time he was watching the movie Babe.

Sorry I got off on a tangent.

Ps.  He thinks the Met dragon looks like a squid.

[marvinbrown]

It was no problem teaching him the Ring.  I read on a different BB than this one someone else had taught his son/grandson the Ring.

We first watched the Levine/Met DVD of Das Rheingold.  We would watch a short piece and then I would stop the DVD and explain what we had seen.  Next I would explain what was coming next in the DVD and then we would watch.  I also explained the motifs (just a few).  You know already how well an 8-yr-old boy would respond to the giants' motif.  It almost ended our study as he loved stomping around.  Like I had said before, we just slid right over any incest discussions and never even mentioned it.  There was so much other info that he needed to understand that he never asked.  I was counting on that and was glad he never asked.

He liked the idea of Alberich enslaving Mime. In fact he was planning to enslave his younger brother with great zeal.  It was summertime and the windows were open.  I was sure that our house was the only one with Alberich and Mime playing in the trees.

He loved Siegfried making his new sword and planned to do the same thing with the appropriate loud banging.  He also liked the Walkuries.  I explained what was happening with Brunhilde and why she was fearful of Wotan's anger.  We really jazzed it up when from a distance there was a sighting of Wotan arriving angry.  He was so much fun to work with because he caught on quickly and retained every thing.

It was about at this point that we had to stop because his mother was moving downstate where schools were available to learn law.

I never told him he was supposed to be fearful of this opera; nor did I tell him this was work from the great Wagner.  Since no one told him to be afraid, he wasn't.

My other grandson had ADHD and was 4 years old.  As you may know, young ADHD children are quite restless and have an extremely short attention span.  One day I taught him to love Hansel und Gretel.  Because he was younger, I'd quite frequently stop the DVD and explain what was coming.  Our witch was not very scary and we did not talk about her eating children.  Being 4 yrs old, he was at one of the usual times that children are prone to nightmares.  That little boy was glued to that TV and he loved the story.  We took the time to pause the opera and actually sing the "Brother, come and dance with me," and then dance as H and G did.  We used the Solti DVD.  He was spellbound all the way to the end of the opera.

The next day he asked if we could play the opera again.  I put it on and did not explain anything this time wanting to know how much he retained from the day before.  I only one other time saw him intently focused on the TV.  From the time that opera started, he never moved a muscle.  The only other time he was watching the movie Babe.

Sorry I got off on a tangent.

Ps.  He thinks the Met dragon looks like a squid.

  Anne that's a wonderful post!  It is really great that your grandson responded well to the Ring.  It pleases me when today's youth are exposed to great works of art at such an early age and respond well to it.  It is so very important to educate our youth and expose them to the finer things in life- art, music, literature and culture.  They will grow to be the opera and classical music fans of tomorrow.

  PS: You did well to skirt the incest issue and your grandson is 100% right that MET dragon did look like a squid!!   

  marvin

[head-case]

Like I had said before, we just slid right over any incest discussions and never even mentioned it.  There was so much other info that he needed to understand that he never asked.  I was counting on that and was glad he never asked.

You assume the issue was "slid over."  Now he probably things it is normal to have sex with his sister.   

[Anne]

You assume the issue was "slid over."  Now he probably things it is normal to have sex with his sister.   

Thanks, Marv.

Head-case

He did not know that Sieglinde was the sister of Siegmund.  Right at the beginning of Die Walkure, for my own information, I had to stop and figure out who all these people were when I was learning the Ring.  I thought the child would need it too but   0:)  I didn't give him a chance to think about it.     Hope the spelling is correct on those 2 names.

[PSmith08]

  WOW PSmith08 you actually  like Bernstein's account?? I find that Bohm's Tristan at Bayreuth with Nilsson recorded in 1966 to be the only rival to Furtwangler's recording.  That said, Furtwangler had Flagstad as Isolde and to my ears that's as good as it gets.  Its wonderful that there are so many recordings on the market to suit all tastes!

  marvin

I do like Bernstein's account rather a lot. Another thread is probably the best place to explain why, but suffice it for the moment to say that Blyth isn't far off the mark. Like I said, the score and the drama of Tristan make it ideally suited for Bernstein. Of course, he did do an Immolation Scene with Eileen Farrell that is impressive, but done about twenty years before the Tristan in question.