Entertainment For Lively Minds
Wagner. Worth the effort.
It's great to live in the age of recorded music. For the last few years I've been getting in to Wagner's Ring Cycle ever since hearing a snippet on a classical compilation cd. Before recorded music I probably wouldn't have had the chance (or money) to hear it but now it's just a matter of getting the recordings and whipping through the tracks for bits I like, getting familiar with the thing before tackling it in its entirety. I'm still journeying through it and mostly having a whale of a time. I've been to see a couple of productions and they've blown me away. Now we're in an age where the great pyrotechnics and generally impossible scenic demands of this monster can be more or less realised it makes for an unforgettable night out.
In 2008 a huge production was put on in Valencia, no expense spared and it's now available on Bluray. I highly recommend it - fire, floods, flying around and people turning in to dragons, all to an almost atomic explosion of music.
I know Wagner the man was a bit of a shit and the bombast of much of his output is repellent to some but if you're at all curious then I urge you to give it a go. Some of it is a bit plodding and he probably needed an editor but when the music bursts to life, harnessing the full force of the orchestra, there is simply nothing like it.
Here's a fairly low-key bit from the Valencia production. It's Siegfried's death and funeral march. Much too grand for anyone but the offspring of the Gods it's a big way to go out and a beautiful piece of music. When, about halfway through, the body is carried out in to the audience and the orchestra goes bonkers it's hard not to be stunned. Turn it up loud for the neighbours.
Thanks. Just wanted to share that.
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Wow, you read my mind...
I was just going to put a post about Wagner's Ring Cycle today.
Basically, I want to have a go at it. Never heard it before and want to know where to start. Is it better to just plunge into the whole thing? Or should I try and see a production of it first? Does the music work without watching the story unfold? Is there a particular release or box set that is the best recording? Should I buy a "Best Of" first?
I'm not averse to struggling a bit and taking my time over music. It took me a few years to appreciate Beethoven's 9th but now I love it. But I hear the Ring Cycle is a huge task to get to grips with? How long is the whole thing?
The only bits I have heard (that I know of) are the Ride Of The Valkyries and the bit used in Terrence Malick's The New World (which I think is the overture bit at the very beginning of the first part?): both are brilliant pieces of music.
Not sure if this link quite works
(my work system's firewall is a bit nasty) but WYNC Radiolab did a lovely one hour show on the Ring Cycle, touching on music, story and the slightly crazy people who get obsessed by the whole Wagner thing. If the link doesn't work, a google search will come up with something. Sorry about the sloppy posting.
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2008/jan/01/the-ring-and...
And for another view
you might want to try Anna Russell's famous re-telling of the Ring story - nothing she says is false, but she points out some absurdities, such as:
'The story begins in the Rhine. ... In it.'
and also that Brünnhilde is actually Siegfried's aunt.
It's the last track on this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anna-Russell-Album-Live-York/dp/B001GSG7HA/ref=s...
"The only bits I have heard (that I know of)"
If you've seen John Boorman's "Excalibur" you'll have heard a large chunk of the above video at the end, after Arthur's died and is being taken away by Guinevere and Co, leading into the end credits.
I had no idea till just now that it was Wagner.
I met him once
But was his Ring worth the effort?
Don't worry - that blur of grey you can see is the hem of my coat disappearing out the door.
Gotterdammerung!
I knew this would happen. Curses.
It's about 18 hours long.
Which is challenge enough, probably. However, it's not that difficult to get in to. Wagner's method of giving everything a leitmotiv (basically signature tune) means that it's quite easy to get familiar with the music. The best complete recording I think is Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra which can be picked up fairly cheap. I don't know about a good 'best of' as I find most of them miss out on some of the really good stuff.
When I started I didn't worry too much about what was going on and didn't try to follow what was being sung. I read the basic outline so I had a bit of guidance but mostly I threw myself in and let the music do the work. it may sound crackers but the best bits to start with are the ends of each opera. Start with the last 20 mins of Walkure (where Wotan says goodbye to his daughter and surrounds her with a ring of fire)and then do the last 20 mins of Gotterdammerung (which is the whole world going up in flames). These bits (together with the end of Rhinegold and Siegfried) are undoubted highlights as Wagner wanted to make the audience go home stunned.
After that, skip around a bit, see what you like. There are dreary passages but you'll find them. Have fun with it.
Probably a good idea, if you get on well, would be to buy a dvd of one of the operas (Gotterdammerung is my favourite) and zap through that. You can also find on the web some good guides on what to listen to.
I wouldn't advise total immersion from beginning to end to start with but when you're ready you'll want to see it live and you should. There's nothing like it. Last time I saw Walkure I walked around for a week like I'd been hit by an ox.
I think it may well be one of the highlights of human creativity and I know nothing about classical music.
Good luck and enjoy yourself.
18 hours would include intervals, I think
I suspect Goodall's performances (in English) are the slowest on record, but I doubt even he makes it 18 hours. I have 5 Rings - I am not setting myself up as an expert, or even a Wagnerian - a true Wagnerian would have at least 8.
Barenboim (live, Bayreuth, 1990s) - just under 15 hours
Haitink (studio, 80s) - 14.5 hours
Janowski (studio, 1980 - the first digital recording of Der Ring) - just over 14 hours
Böhm (live, Bayreuth, late 60s) - just over 13.5 hours.
Boulez (live, Bayreuth, late 80s - DVD of the famous Patrice Chereau production) - no timing to hand, but near the Böhm scale.
I've always resisted the Solti set, partly because a) I was never a fan of his, and b) there are some very silly sound effects which had me in inappropriate fits at the end of Götterdämmerung (well, I was 17 at the time). The Haitink set has some effects which sound electronic and are not very good. Over all, the Janowski has the best singing.
The Chereau production is the only one I've seen on DVD - it's a Victorian industrial conception, but the story does come across clearly, as it may not do in some more Eurotrash productions, though I know the Valencia one mentioned above and the Copenhagen one (search for Copenhagen Ring) are very highly regarded.
I'm not one who listens to bits of things, so I went for the whole lot all at once - the Böhm set, when I was 19 - I've always liked the pace of it, even if not all the singing is wonderful, and there is some stage noise.
There's a set of an introductory lecture by Deryck Cooke, which uses parts of the Solti set as illustration - I haven't heard it, but it's recommended for people starting out on the Ring and wanting to know how it fits together - there are example of the use of leitmotiv - phrases and themes associated with characters, emotions or events, which recur, and often indicate what a character is really thinking.
You don't need to see it to appreciate it - follow it with a libretto and get to know the leitmotivs and you'll know what's going on.
I've only seen it on stage once - Royal Opera House, production by Götz Friedrich, in Prom performances in 1979 - this meant queuing all day on four days, and sitting squashed together on the floor of the stalls area for hours on end. Glorious, but I wouldn't do it now.
Enjoy it, and then move on to the rest of Wagner - it will change your life. Who needs a 3-minute pop song when you can have the 2 and a half hour single span of Das Rheingold?
Oops.
You're quite right, Pete - I was referring to the time spent in the Opera House rather than listening time. I don't know all the Rings you have so I will be investigating - thanks. I think my fondness for the Solti comes from it being the first I heard (I didn't mind the sound effects), it may not be the best.
Don't let me put you off
I tried not to say which I thought was 'the best' because that would only be my opinion. The Solti set does enjoy a high reputation - and I like Böhm for the same reason you like Solti. It was only last year that I replaced the set with a download, which was a great bargain - all 10 of Wagner's mature operas in Bayreuth performances for £24 - sadly this set is no longer available.
This
will serve you well as a reasonable double CD Best Of.
A very useful introduction, extremely well recorded by EMI's sixties engineers and conducted by the Wagnerphile Otto Klemperer.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Orchestral-Music-Richard/dp/B00006BCDJ/re...
Happy trails.
There isn't enough classical stuff on the site.
16 hours in, and the crowd shows no sign of tiring