The Ring Disc: An Interactive Guide to Wagners Ring Cycle (Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) (CD-ROM)

by Wagner (Composer), Solti (Orchestra), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Conductor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Richard Wagner's entire "Ring of the Nibelungen" on one CD-ROM. The definitive Vienna Philharmonic recording, Sir Georg Solti conducting.

* Complete piano-vocal score, German libretto with English translation, and running commentary-all synchronized to the music.

* All 14.5 hours of pristine digitized sound captured by The Media Café's new audio compression technology.

* More than one hundred original essays with detailed explanations.

* Extensive full-color image database from contemporary and historical sources.

* Comprehensive analysis of all the leitmotifs along with hypertext links to specific musical occurrences.

* Search functions instantaneously isolate and index individual leitmotif, characters, and musical examples throughout the entire cycle.

One disc with 14.5 hours of pristine digitized sound.

Computer Requirements:
Pentium Processor PC
Windows 95 or Windows NT
8MB Ram
4xCD-ROM Drive
800x600 Screen Resolution with 16 bit color

Product Details

• CD-ROM
• Publisher: Media Cafe Publishing (April 2, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 0965735702
• ISBN-13: 978-0965735704
• ASIN: B000001A3A
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #578,654 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #29 in	Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Computer Recording > Software > Instruction
  #30 in	Software > Video & Music > Music Appreciation
  #41 in	Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Classical > Composers > Wagner, Richard

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A technological triumph!, March 27, 2000

By	Andrew B. Long (Clearwater, FL USA) - See all my reviews

If this disc is ever reissued, grab it! It is not an audio CD as described by Amazon. It is a CD-ROM with the entire Solti Ring in one disc (computer sound, of course). On video you get the score (piano reduction), the text, an English translation, and commentary. All the leitmotivs are marked, and you can stop anywhere and get all the instances of a leitmotivs, from first to last, and go to any point and hear any that you want. When they showed it to Solti, he was just amazed how much is on this one disc. (Issued with his approval.) This disc is hugely helpful if you want to get under the skin of the Ring and really get to know it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent way to enjoy the Ring -- Incredible value too!, March 28, 2002

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

This CD is amazing in that it presents the entire Ring Cycle -- all 14 hours or so -- in very acceptable (albeit mono) sound on a single computer disk. The recording used is the famous one George Solti made with the leading Wagners singers from the late 1950s and early 60s that is considered one of the best recordings of these works. The software side of the disk is great, in that you can instantly choose the opera you want to go to, along with act and scene within the act. You can follow the operas in three ways (simultaneously if you want) -- there is a piano score, the libretto, and (very nice) a part of the screen that lists the leitmotifs that are being played. You can readily move through any part of the opera with a scroll bar, and there are lots of hyperlinks that take you to musical examples and some (almost a 100) very nice short essays on the Ring and its characters. This really is a great piece of software if you are interested in the Ring, and is a good value at...the list price..., and a truly unbelievable value at the [price] Amazon is now asking for it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful resource, February 19, 2002

By A Customer

This CD-Rom is the best guide I've come across in 18 years of studying the Ring music dramas. The highly compressed music (14.5 hours on 1 CD!) is recorded in mono, but still sounds okay. The CD plays on my Windows 98 PC with no installation, no technical hassles at all. There are numerous hyperlinks so you can go to any section of the 4 operas in one click. Most impressive of all is the thorough cataloging of the leitmotifs. The commentary here is especially inciteful, illustrating how leitmotifs are developed and related to other leitmotifs, musically and dramatically. The explanation of the "love-curse" motif (usually mislabled the "renunciation motif) is particularly good.
I can't recommend this highly enough. (...)