Richard Wagner

Wagner is the giant among composers by reason of the fact that he created his own world. Whereas others interpreted ancient and familiar mythology, Wagner created his own myth. Whereas others composed to librettos by poets, Wagner wrote his own texts. He even built his own opera house, which had to be different and innovative. Wagner was the greatest creative genius in music history.

And yet this superhuman giant also had a sense of humour, clearly audible in the wonderfully constructed Meistersinger overture. And he created intimate, sensitive lyricism, which moves us deeply in his Siegfried-Idyll. This lyricism is the most important aspect of Wagner's music: Brünnhilde's beautiful, longing melody which shines through the huge flame that absorbs both her and the collapsing world.

Iván Fischer (from liner notes)

14CD/2DVD

Christian Thielemann’s reading of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2011 was universally hailed as one of the greatest Wagnerian events of the last half-century and is now being released as a beautiful box set containing 14 CDs of the four Ring operas and 2 DVDs featuring introductory films to each opera.

With the Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera and an outstanding cast of today’s leading dramatic singers, these performances set the standard for Wagner interpretation in the 21st Century.

The 4 documentary films were directed by acclaimed producer Eric Schulz, complementing the audio recordings, providing an introduction, commentary and analysis by experts, including conductor Christian Thielemann. They will also be broadcast by the German/Austrian TV channel 3Sat in April – one feature per week starting on 4th April.

Booklet contains synopses in German, English and French and libretti in German and English.

With Richard Wagner's bicentenary coming up on May 22, there are all kinds of sounds in the air and words to be read about the great Romantic music dramatist. But where among all this Wagneriana are we to find the truly original messages? Some of them are to be encountered right here, because when GERMAN BRASS tackles Wagner, expectations are always high. The brass ensemble is justly regarded as one of the world's finest, consisting of the best musicians from Germany's leading orchestras (including Bayreuth's!), so this is a special event, music made, played and recorded with total commitment.We still come back to the question: Wagner for brass – how is that going to sound? It seems a bold idea at first sight, but as soon as you hear it, it turns out to be a stroke of genius: Wagner was no stranger to fullbodied brass sound, and the musicians of GERMAN BRASS succeed brilliantly in coaxing the complex timbres of Wagner's mixed sounds from their instruments. This is due as much to their virtuosity as to the creative arrangements of their artistic director Matthias Höfs. The verve of the "Ride of the Valkyries" will astound the listener as much as the alternating blocks of sound at the start of the "Pilgrims' Chorus" from Tannhäuser, where original and arrangement seem to keep changing places. Familiar passages come over as well known and yet subtly different – a stimulating experience!

This concert recording represents a real stroke of luck, for which we have to thank a conductor – Herbert Kegel – who championed music during the GDR era that was not viewed as "politically correct". This 1975 recording of Parsifal, featuring snappy tempos and devoid of the usual mystique surrounding Wagner, is an interpretation which seems to have evolved well ahead of its time.

George London appears as WOTAN on this recording and he is accompanied by Schärtel, Winkler, Schachtschneider, Kelemen and Wohlfahrt. The performance is taken from the Cologne Opera live on 22.05.1962 Sawallisch conducts this superb performance, the wonderful sound taken from a master tape. George London as Wotan is a unique event not to be missed.

This is the first release on any format of this performance of the 1962 Bayreuth performance of Rudolph Kempe’s Ring . The recording is from the private collection of Grace Hoffmann and although the sound quality is good, it is not state-of-the-art due to private control recording.

In this year of his 200th birthday, Richard Wagner’s three early operas are enjoying unusual prominence: several staged productions of 'Das Liebesverbot' are planned, while his breakthrough work 'Rienzi' and even his first opera, 'Die Feen', are to be spotted (although the latter is usually given in concert performance). However, to this day it is a rare thing to find all three played at the same opera house, in the same season, under the same conductor as was the case at the Bavarian State Opera in 1983 under Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Sawallisch, who passed away just a few weeks ago, was the Director of the State Opera for many years. In all three of these operas he confirmed his Wagnerian reputation as a supreme proponent of a marvellous, fluid style of music-making that was devoid of pathos. This was to the benefit of his ensemble of singers, who were largely spared the dangers of a heavy, cumbersome Wagner performance style, even though several of their roles undoubtedly demanded great dramatic ability. This requirement was fully met by Linda Esther Gray as Ada in 'Die Feen' and by Sabine Hass as Isabella in 'Das Liebesverbot', for example. With René Kollo as the title hero in 'Rienzi' and Hermann Prey as the governor Friedrich in 'Das Liebesverbot', these operas featured German singing stars of the day who both had a lyrical approach to Wagner and to whom great clarity of text was paramount. Arindal in 'Die Feen', the other murderous tenor role that is to be found in Wagner’s 'sins of youth', was sung by John Alexander, who established his international career primarily in Italian repertoire. This was also the case with June Anderson, who sings the role of Arindal’s sister, Lora.

Both in 'Die Feen' and in 'Rienzi', the 'younger' generation of Cheryl Studer and Jan-Hendrik Rootering made a lasting mark, and, in the State Opera ensemble under Sawallisch’s direction they were inexorably led towards future stardom.

This new CD box from ORFEO, in which these operas, hitherto released individually, are now available in a limited special edition. This is more than just a contribution to the Wagner year; it is a homage to an era of opera in Munich.