An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen

Deryck Cooke (Artist), Georg Solti (Artist), Wiener Philharmoniker (Artist), Anita Valkki (Artist), Berit Lindholm (Artist), Birgit Nilsson (Artist), Brigitte Fassbaender (Artist), Christa Ludwig (Artist), Claire Watson (Artist), Claudia Hellmann (Artist), Dame Gwyneth Jones (Artist), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Artist), Eberhard Wächter (Artist), George London (Artist), Gerhard Stolze (Artist), Gottlob Frick (Artist), Grace Hoffmann (Artist), Gustav Neidlinger (Artist), Hans Hotter (Artist), Helen Watts (Artist), Helga Dernesch (Artist), Hetty Plumacher (Artist), Ira Malaniuk (Artist), James King (Artist), Jean Madeira (Artist), Joan Sutherland (Artist), Kirsten Flagstad (Artist), Kurt Böhme (Artist), Lucia Popp (Artist), Marga Höffgen (Artist), Marilyn Tyler (Artist), Maureen Guy (Artist), Oda Balsborg (Artist), Paul Kuen (Artist), Régine Crespin (Artist), Set Svanholm (Artist), Vera Little (Artist), Vera Schlosser (Artist), Waldemar Kmentt (Artist), Walter Kreppel (Artist), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00000424H
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,797 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #3 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Voices > Baritones

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When Wagner set the Ring to music, he intended the orchestra to act in the fashion of a chorus from a classic Greek tragedy--setting the mood and commenting on the action. In order to allow a nonverbal musical line to reflect on the plot, Wagner developed a psychologically and musically complex symbology to communicate his thoughts to the listener. From the beginning the Ring has spawned numerous written commentaries on the relationships of the motif structure, but by using examples from the Decca Ring recording, Deryck Cooke's thoughtful spoken commentary is by far the most accessible guide for either the fledgling Ring enthusiast or the seasoned veteran. --Christian C. Rix

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: WAGNER,R.
Title: INTRO TO
Street Release Date: 09/13/2005
Domestic
Genre: CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Exposition of the Music of Wagner's Ring, April 23, 2002

By 

Dan Sherman (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful 2-CD set in which musicologist Deryck Cooke lays out the few basic musical themes of the Ring Cycle and gives a very clear exposition of how Wagner develops them over the course of the Cycle. This approach really added to my appreciation of the Ring Cycle and also Wagner's genius in developing and blending his themes. For me the highlight of the disk comes at the end when he presents 2 great orchestral passages from the Ring -- the Prelude to Act III of Siegfried and the very end of Gotterdammerung. After a quick review of the relevant themes, he uses these 2 excerpts to illustrate how multiple themes are brought together and really give us the ideal of "music-drama."

This is a great set that anyone interested in the Ring should have; it really adds to the appreciation of the music of the Ring. This is an item that needs six stars to rate!

A good companion to these CDs is the Ring Disc software which has a full recording of the Solti Ring on 1 CD (!) and has the feature of identifying musical themes as they are played, with a "click-here" approach to following them through the score. This really brings the sort of analysis Cooke gives to each single moment of the Ring.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction, March 22, 2004

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen (Audio CD)

Wagner's Ring Cycle is arguably the most complex musical work in existence. This CD set is a commentary on and explication of Wagner's basic method in constructing the Ring Cycle. This set was originally a BBC broadcast aimed at educating a broad audience. Cooke's explanations are lucid and organized well. This set is accessible to any interested individual of any level of musical sophistication.
Wagner's basic method was to develop an extensive set of musical themes, leitmotivs, associated with important characters, plot elements, objects, and motivations in the Ring Cycle, The leitmotivs are esthetically and psychologically appropriate to the things to which they are associated. The leitmotivs exist in families with many derived from a basic set of themes that reify the underlying intellectual and psychological themes of the plot. Cooke explicates a large number of leitmotivs and shows how they are related and transformed in the course of the action of the Ring cycle. He concludes with a number of examples demonstrating how Wagner combined leitmotivs in musical actions that parallel the action of the plot and reflect the underlying themes of the Ring Cycle. This gives a nice introduction to the remarkably complex architecture of the Ring cycle. Beyond its pedagogical intent, Cooke's presentation is also a nice introduction to Wagner's incredible achievement in matching the formal architecture of the music, the dramatic action, his presentation of the underlying themes, and all in powerful and often wonderful music.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FASCINATING STUDY FOR NOVICES AND AFFICIONADOS ALIKE, August 16, 2006

By 

Klingsor Tristan (Suffolk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen (Audio CD)

This may look an intimidating, daunting and dull prospect - a 2+ hour lecture on the motifs in the Ring. Don't be put off. Whether you're a relative novice to the Ring and want to find out what it's all about, more experienced with a desire to understand the composer's methods better or an afficionado who thinks he knows it all inside out, there is great pleasure as well as elucidation to be had from this set. Originally made to accompany the Decca Solti Ring, it contains a multitude of musical illustrations taken from those recordings as well as some specially recorded by Solti just for this Introduction.

It wasn't the first time this has been tried. The famous HMV sets from the late 20's also included recorded examples of over 100 motifs. (These, by the way, are available as part of the Pearl reissue of those wonderful HMV recordings). What that set lacked was the wonderful insights as well as the approachability of the talk by Deryck Cooke. Cooke was a great and much missed musicologist - a Mahler expert responsible for the performing edition of the Tenth Symphony still most played today, a fascinating explorer into the nature of music's basic building-blocks in his excellent book, The Language of Music, and an inspiring and elucidating critic of Wagner's work as shown by the fascinating book he left unfinished at his death, I Saw the World End.

On these CDs he does much more than list the leitmotifs and identify them as calling-cards. He shows the amazingly integrated and organic growth of the musical material that Wagner uses throughout his vast work. He demonstrates how motifs can change their sense and meaning as they evolve through the drama. And he shows how the complex combinations of motifs can radically advance both the musical and the dramatic narrative of the piece. There are even places where he corrects the misinterpretation of some of the motifs that had become ingrained from early commentators' false labels.

This set should engage and enlighten anyone with an interest in Wagner's huge and inexhaustible tetralogy. Do give it a try - no matter how far down the road to Wagnerianism you are.