Indeed so…I am just starting on my Wagner journey. Hope to attend a ring cycle in Bayreuth when I retire. In terms of enjoyment for the non initiate, Stokowski and his orchestral cobbling is sheer fun. But Wagner really is different from any composer anywhere. Tennstedt was a superb Wagnerian. I think a good start would be comparative recordings of a single piece to get a sense of interpretation. The Tannhauser overture which its grand use of the whole orchestra (the French horns baying in unison - marvellous - available on youtube). Sometimes I want something less earth shaking than Tennstedt and his relentless intentity for example…that is why interpretations are important. Also Wagner is about the unity of the arts, the complete experience of plot, staging, libretto, music and voice. Go the whole hog and you will find a magical universe which unfortunately is all consuming. After all his ring cycle takes 14-15 hours.
Wagner’s treatment of characters and their voice registers is quite unique. As a thumb rule all lower voices (so baritone and bass for male and mezzo-soprano and alto on the female side) seem to be for the bad guys. All voices of course are stretched to such a degree that if you sing Wagner you cannot also do Italian lyric opera. It is no surprise Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi, the two great rivals in bel canto opera and Verdi and Puccini never really did much Wagner.
I think you can for the purposes of embarking on a Wagner journey divide his ouvre into 3 categories IMHO:
-The Ring Cycle (4 operas which are essentially exploration of the universe where Gods are ultimately humbled and shown to be less than pure in intent. The seed of the fall of the Gods starts with the building of Valhalla, the abode of the Gods and the fashioning of the magical ring of power by the dwarfs, and ends with Gotterdammerung or Twilight of the Gods where Valhalla burns)
- The second category comprises the other mature operas especially Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan, Meistersinger and Parsifal
- the third category are orchestral chunks from Wagner (overtures to Rienzi, Tannhauser, Flying Dutchman and others plus the Prelude and love music from Tristan, the chunks from the ring, the Good Friday music from Parsifal), and luxurious arrangements like Stokowski, along with the super Sigfried Idyll composed as a surprise birthday gift for his wife (this is a superb approx 15-20 minute piece that must be heard). I would say the early operas should be a lower priority)
These are the ring cycles that I am currently exploring:
Bayreuth Live
- Clemens Krauss 1953 - the magical sure footed ring in Mono but with a super cast of singers (he was a great Wagnerian and a Nazi party member like Karajan but his links were even stronger
- Knappertsbusch 1956 - as a Kna devotee this is umissable but should not be the only ring to listen to
- Keilberth 1955 the first Stereo Ring
- Kempe Ring cycle 1960 I think and much to be preferred to his Covent Garden cycle
- Karl Bohm1967
- Barenboim (the only digital live recording) 1980s I think but I may be wrong
Outside Bayreuth:
- Solti (stereo ring on Decca 1960s - the most vivid of all)
- Janowski - a superb digital version with very flowing pace (similar to Krauss in some ways but old is gold)
- Jap van Zweden (a surprisIngly accomplished cycle from Hong Kong)
- Reginald Goodall (the slow intense ring, the greatest recording of this mightiest of English WagnerIans)
- Levine MET 2 cycles on video with a wonderful Hildegard Behrens
- Sawallisch (hmm I do not remember this very well)
- Swarowsky (Vienna state opera)
- Haitink (Munich)
- Karajan for the most orchestral Ring with exquisite playing of supreme transparency, a trifle cool perhaps
- the two Furtwangler recordings in very bad sound (from Rome and La Scala Milan - incidentally Maria Callas was a great Furtwangler devotee, once stopping her car in the US so that she could finish listening to a performance broadcast on radio)
Zubin Mehta did a cycle in Florence with the Maggio Musicale but I have never heard it. He had all the makings of a great Wagnerian but never conducted in Bayreuth, that holiest of holy Wagner halls. My bias, but I would avoid Rattle…I have also not listened to Christian Thielemann.
Apologies for the long ramble, but at this stage of my life in my early fifties, I am beginning my journey as an aspiring Wagner Nutcase…could not resist the thread.
. It may not have been released.
