Richard Wagner - Siegfried-Idyll & Orchestral Music from Operas (Otto Klemperer)

Information

Composer: Richard Wagner

CD1:

1. Rienzi: Overture
2. Tannhäuser: Overture
3. Tannhäuser: Prelude (Act 3)
4. Lohengrin: Prelude (Act 1)
5. Lohengrin: Prelude (Act 3)
6. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude
7. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Dance of the Apprentices & Entry of the Masters
8. Parsifal: Prelude (Act 1)

CD2:

1. Der fliegende Holländer: Overture
2. Das Rheingold: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
3. Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries
4. Siegfried-Idyll
5. Siegfried: Forest Murmurs
6. Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Rhine Journey
7. Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Funeral March
8. Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod

Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer, conductor

Date: 1960-1961
Label: EMI

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 7

Otto Klemperer’s Wagner is mostly marvelous. At times, he can sound a bit too foursquare, as in his lumbering Meistersinger prelude, but then he also turns in a surprisingly swift and urgent Prelude and Liebestod, and he’s fantastic with all of the early stuff. Works such as the overtures to Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, and Tannhäuser seem perfectly in sync with his innate blunt directness, and he also leads a lovely, unfussy performance of the Siegfried Idyll. Well behaved brass make the Act 3 prelude to Lohengrin more dignified than usual, and Klemperer obviously believes that the shortest possible version of the Ride of the Valkyries (less than three minutes) gives you all you need to know of this particular “bleeding chunk”, a decision we can only applaud. Now if only there were a similarly brief edition of the pointlessly repetitious and formally shapeless Forest Murmurs! Happily, “just the facts” versions of both Siegfried’s Rhine Jouney and Funeral Music do exist, and Klemperer chooses both of them. Careful remastering captures the vividness of most of the original recordings, even if it can’t do anything about their obvious age. Still, this is an essential Wagner collection and EMI packs a lot of music onto these two nearly 80-minute-long CDs. A classic, then, and a bargain to boot.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi67893a.php
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Orchestral-Music-Richard/dp/B00006I0AU

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Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theater director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. He revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesize the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. His composition are noted for their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs. Wagner's influence spread beyond musical composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner

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Otto Klemperer (14 May 1885 – 6 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century. Klemperer met Gustav Mahler while conducting the off-stage brass at a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and later assisted Mahler in the premiere of Mahler's Symphony No. 8. He became the first principal conductor of the Philharmonia in 1959, subsequently made many recordings for EMI that have become classics. While adopting slower tempi as he aged, Klemperer's performances often maintain great intensity, and are richly detailed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Klemperer

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