Wagner's Valhalla

[madaboutmahler]

That's certainly a set I would want to own, it will probably be quite a long time before I can even start to consider buying it though....

[AndyD.]

so this is the place then.... 

bit of a quandry here... I only have 3 operas CDs (one Norma I received by error from amazon, one Mozart overtures, a selection of Tristan & Isolde on a Carlos Kleiber CD) and yet I am getting a bit twitchy about this Solti boxset, which is at € 79.00 only at JPC.



I have listened to some samples on JPC and it is very much a case of yes-yes-no-yes-no-yes-yes-yes-no so I have no idea  .... i thought about buying just one full opera only, but is it really giving Wagner a fair trial if i do so ? That boxset is a steal at that price, isn't it ? ....especially if I treat it as a long term "investment" and go through it at my own pace and do it properly with the libretto... right ? 

God... what am I doing in this place.... 

/snypprrrr mode OFF  0:)

That's an excellent set, especially for the price. The Ring and Lohengrin are my favorites of those pieces, and the Meistersinger is often really good. Actually, there's isn't a dud in that set imo.

However, I can't imagine going without the Bohm/Nilsson Tristan und Isolde or the Kubelik Parsifal. Not to mention the Stein Meistersinger and Parsifal dvds, both great. Then there's the Levine and Boulez Ring cycles on dvd.......

[Papy Oli]

ok thank you 

I have found Solti's Ring from Bayreuth 1983 (a different version to the set) on youtube. Starting Das Rheingold just now, will see how I get on.

[Opus106]

so this is the place then.... 

bit of a quandry here... I only have 3 operas CDs (one Norma I received by error from amazon, one Mozart overtures, a selection of Tristan & Isolde on a Carlos Kleiber CD) and yet I am getting a bit twitchy about this Solti boxset, which is at € 79.00 only at JPC.



I have listened to some samples on JPC and it is very much a case of yes-yes-no-yes-no-yes-yes-yes-no so I have no idea  .... i thought about buying just one full opera only, but is it really giving Wagner a fair trial if i do so ? That boxset is a steal at that price, isn't it ? ....especially if I treat it as a long term "investment" and go through it at my own pace and do it properly with the libretto... right ? 

I say go with Zauberflöte or Figaro!

God... what am I doing in this place.... 

I know the feeling.   

/snypprrrr mode OFF  0:)

[kishnevi]

BTW,  the Solti edition is being issued not as part of Wagnerjahr,  but because it's a Soltijahr of some sort.   There's also similar issues of Solti's Strauss and (IIRC) Verdi coming down the pipe

[Papy Oli]

I have found Solti's Ring from Bayreuth 1983 (a different version to the set) on youtube. Starting Das Rheingold just now, will see how I get on.

I listened to over an hour of Das Rheingold, one random chunk of 30 minutes of Die Walküre and another 30 minutes of Götterdämmerung yesterday...more than I thought  0:) 

Very intense (in a good way), undeniably... but the jury's still out 

I say go with Zauberflöte!

I had that on DVD (Levine) a few years back - swapped it with CDs from Harry's Bin 

or Figaro!

covered..of sorts...I recently acquired the Mozart Overtures with Davis/Dresden...I do like it 

[Opus106]

I had that on DVD (Levine) a few years back - swapped it with CDs from Harry's Bin 

Check out the 2003 Covent Garden, with Davis conducting. I think the whole thing is available on YouTube.

[brianwalker]

Hey guys, I have this recording of Tristan by Knappertsbusch and I love it. It's on the Gala label.

[asin]http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tristan-Isolde-Live-Munich/dp/B00004VM3L/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1348864589&sr=8-12&keywords=tristan+knappertsbusch[/asin]

However, Orfeo is known for getting great sound out of old mono recordings. Does anyone have this recording and the Gala and can tell me how much better, if at all, the Orfeo transfer is?

[asin]http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tristan-Isolde-Richard-Classical/dp/B0000044WA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348864589&sr=8-1&keywords=tristan+knappertsbusch[/asin]

[Sergeant Rock]

Your links aren't working. You failed to insert the ASIN (Amazon's product number).

Sarge

[Lisztianwagner]

Do you mean this recording?

[asin]B0000044WA[/asin]

[brianwalker]

Do you mean this recording?

[asin]B0000044WA[/asin]

Yes! This recording. Is the sound on it much better than the Gala?

[Lisztianwagner]

Yes! This recording. Is the sound on it much better than the Gala?

It certainly is. Knappertsbusch's Tristan is very good, but I prefer the Furtwangler and the Karajan.

[Lilas Pastia]

It certainly is. Knappertsbusch's Tristan is very good, but I prefer the Furtwangler and the Karajan.

Which Karajan? I know of two (Bayeuth 1952 with Mödl) and the EMI set. They are vastly different.

[Lisztianwagner]

Which Karajan? I know of two (Bayeuth 1952 with Mödl) and the EMI set. They are vastly different.

The EMI set; I've never listened to the Bayreuth version.

[jlaurson]

James: FYI: The Amsterdam Pierre Audi Ring (now there's something different -- and good, at the same time!) is being re-issued as a box on DVD and Blu-ray!



Parsifal and the Tree of Life

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/04/parsifal-and-tree-of-life.html

Konwitschny zooms in on the individual as such and pain—and puts Amfortas front and center of his all-white papier-mâché stage to illustrate this point...

[DavidRoss]

Yesterday our local PBS affiliate, Capital Public Radio, played the recent Met Siegfried. I listened for nearly an hour before turning it off, sad that such beautiful music is marred by so much tuneless shrieking. What the hell was Wagner thinking!?

[Elgarian]

I listened for nearly an hour before turning it off, sad that such beautiful music is marred by so much tuneless shrieking.

These big turn-offs work in mysterious ways. I felt like that about almost any solo piano for about 50 years - all that beastly banging at the bottom end and cacophonic clinking at the top made me fear that my fillings would fall out, and sounded far more like noise for noise's sake than any rock music I ever heard. Then last year, suddenly, everything was alright - for no reason I could discern; and now I can't see what my problem was. So maybe you just need to wait another 50 years, Dave?

[Parsifal]

These big turn-offs work in mysterious ways. I felt like that about almost any solo piano for about 50 years - all that beastly banging at the bottom end and cacophonic clinking at the top made me fear that my fillings would fall out, and sounded far more like noise for noise's sake than any rock music I ever heard. Then last year, suddenly, everything was alright - for no reason I could discern; and now I can't see what my problem was. So maybe you just need to wait another 50 years, Dave?

Will there still be electricity generation in California in 50 years?   Maybe time to stock up on hand-cranked gramophones. 

[DavidRoss]

My wife plans to live at least 50 more years, Alan, but for me even 10 more years is a long shot. BTW, that Lepage Ring was pretty darned good and it's only a matter of time before I spring for the blue-ray.

"Totally fall for him," Jens? I give his stuff the opportunity from time to time, but think the chances of head-over-heels puppy love are no better than the likelihood that I'll swap my Z28 Camaro for a 1972 Pontiac Bonneville. 

[Karl Henning]

Tuneless shrieking sounds like it ought to go with atonal honking, anyway! : )