Rating: 4/5
Review:
Wagner made bearable
I know that this is a rather shameful thing to confess, but
I really don't like Wagner. I've tried,
really I have, but I cannot get on with him.
I'm pretty much with Rossini when he said "One cannot judge
Lohengrin after on first hearing – and I certainly don't intend to listen to it
a second time," and with person who said that Parsifal is an opera which
begins at 6 o'clock and after it has been going for three hours you look at
your watch and it says 6.20. Knowing
this, a friend sent me this disc and, while I'm not a convert, having listened
to it I can at least see the point of Wagner.
Rossini also said that Wagner has some wonderful moments and
some dreadful quarters of an hour, and this disc seems to contain quite a few
of his wonderful moments. I'm in no
position to judge the quality of the interpretation, but the playing is very
good and the recorded sound is nicely done, so if you're a Wagner sceptic like
me, this may be a disc worth trying. I
shall certainly come back to it; I doubt that it will lead on to a love of
Wagner, but it's a start.
Some true Wagnerians may regard this recording (and me, come
to that) as a contemptible abomination, but I rather like it.
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