Customer Reviews

Wagner: Orchestral Music

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I have these CDs for almost 15 years before they became a 2-CD set and still play them regularly. Got to know Wagner from the classical Furtwangler cycle, for many the best Wagner music ever recorded. Although Furtwangler is exceptional I do not think that it can surpass these accounts of Klemperer's Wagner. The sound of my CDs is not that great (something that probably has been fixed in these CDs) but the music is illumining in every instance. If you listen to this Tannhuaser you will understand what I am talking about. The Philharmonia Orchestra under Klemperer works miracles as always. A must have for every music-lover, even if you hate Wagner.

Since his music is so controversial & demanding, it's probably cruel to introduce a person to Wagner by first experiencing one of his operas. Personally, I've fallen in love with Wagner's earlier Romantic operas & later music dramas. This passion, however, wasn't linear, and I spent a lot of time skipping through sections that I didn't particularly appreciate until rather late in the game. If that makes me a slow developer, fair enough. It also puts me in with the majority of people who grow to love this operatic genius. This 2-disc set is the perfect way to determine if you would like to delve further.

Klemperer's brooding conducting is perfect for the sheer weight of many of these pieces. The Gotterdammerung selections are absolutely perfect! The prelude to Parsifal is also stunning, as is the Tristan prelude & Isolde's liebestod!

Wagner's popular mid-period Tannhauser & Lohengrin selections range from lusty (Tann. overture, Lohengrin prelude act 3) to sublime (Lohengrin prelude act 1) The ever-popular Meistersinger is well represented with the regal overture (minus the Lutheran choral music, unfortunately) and the exquisite Dance of the Apprentices/Entry of the Masters.

The towering Ring selections include the perennial potboiler Ride of the Valkyries, albeit in severely abbreviated form. Donner's powerful "aria" (without words) w/ the final march from Rheingold is present, along with a gorgeous Forest Murmurs from Siegfried and a spectacular selection from Wagner's greatest, Gotterdammerung.

Early Wagner selections from Rienzi and Der fliegende Hollander tend towards the more bombastic side; but hey, if your neighbor plays really annoying rap music at high volume, you can always counter it with these selections. I can guarantee you they'll stop.

In order that the eardrums don't bleed too profusely, Wagner's chamber piece, the Siegfried-Idyll is included and is played with a refreshing lightness of touch.

Perhaps the most exciting experience one can have listening to this music is witnessing this astonishing progression of genius. From Rienzi to Parsifal, no artist (with the possible exception of Beethoven) has progressed so far from the heroic to the sublime. This is truly timeless music.

Wether you love Wagner operas or just his orchestal music or even if you are new to Wagner's music, this is the definitive orchestal recording to have. This 2 CD set contains 157 minutes of the best orchestal Wagner ever available. The Philharmonia Orchestra under the batoon of Otto Klemperer plays perfect, the tempi is slow but not boring, in fact with a lot of feeling and the sound is amazing. The Siegfried Idyll is played with small amount of instruments, just as Wagner intended it to be played. The works in this set are not limited just to the tipical overtures and preludes as other CD's are, it includes more orchestal music from the best known Wagner operas; it does not include music from "Die Feen" or "Das Liebesverbot" or other works as "Faust" overture, etc, but is an excellent set that you will make one of your favorites since the first time you listen.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Klemperer's interpretation of this music and, for the most part, the playing of the orchestra. However, when performing to such a high standard, the playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra should be seamless - as it frequently is. But there is alarming sloppiness on exposed wind entrances sometimes and even disunity on such exits, which make this wind-player's ears cringe.
Other than that, I joyfully recommend this recording along with James Levine's MET "Wagner Orchestral music" and "Wagner Overtures and Preludes", which have much of the same music in modern sound and with spotless technique in the orchestra. A comparison between the two interpretations is worthy; Klemperer's approach is spacious a deep, while Levine, though calling for similar tempi in many places, leans tremendously forward.
Summary: some inexcusable blurbs in the winds, but more than worth the price of admission overall.

As many others, I normally do not care for Wagnerian "bleeding chunks", but when performed as wonderfully as in these fabulous performances, I can more than merely accept them. To pick out some examples, the Meistersinger Prelude is taken surely at the broadest pace I have ever heard, but there is a lightness of touch and sunniness to the interpretation that is absolutely irresistable. Teh Tannhaeuser Overture is overwhelmingly majestic in the Pilgrims' Chorus and volatile in the Venusberg sections. Siegfried goes off on a surprisingly swift Rhine Journey, and the Funeral March has the kind of cataclismic force that Knappertsbusch brought to his famous 1951 Bayreuth performance. The Siegfried Idyll is performed in its original chamber group version, and has more charm than any other I have heard. And the Tristan Prelude and Liebestod has an urgency and sheer erotic impulse that not even Furtwaengler surpassed. These wonderful renditions make one regret that Big Otto never recorded any of the later Wagner Operas complete.

In the good old LP days the two Klemperer-records were my first Wagner LPs, and they are still as great as ever.

This double CD gathers the contents of three LPs recorded in London in 1960 and 1961. Otto Klemperer had turned 75; he was a half-paralyzed giant, increasingly reduced to making stiff, broad gestures on the podium (or rather, from his chair, since he could not reliably stand to conduct). He hadn't led a full Wagner opera since the late Forties, and then only behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary. So the excellence of these Wagner recordings came as a bit of a shock at the time. The eminent musicologist Deryck Cooke expressed his surprise in the Gramophone, and even though he was involved in the Solti Ring cycle, he had no hesitancy in declaring that Klemperer had revealed himself to be the greatest Wagner conductor in the world.

I feel grateful that these records were my first exposure to Wagner, and although there was a general disdain for "bleeding chunks," as George Bernard Shaw was the first to call them, the LP era had seen no complelte Ring cycle by 1960 and precious few complete Wagner operas, so bleeding chunks were a staple for untold numbers of music lovers. Stokowski must hold the record for how many he recorded, and he was very good at them. Furtwangler, often credited with being the preeminent Wagner conductor of the century, made relatively few; the largest amount was recorded near the end of his life, between 1950 and 1952. Klemperer lived another fourteen years but only sporadically returned to Wagner, adding a Siegfried Idyll in the original chamber orchestration (included here), a superbly conducted Flying Dutchman, and Act I of Die Walkure with Wotan's Farewell as a supplement, the last two items recorded unfortunately too late in life. (There also exist fairly primitive air checks of the Budapest performances from after the wary.)

There is nothing to say that could detract from the superlative readings on these two generously filled CDs, each over 75 min. The usual tags about Klemperer apply: monumental, granitic, absolute integrity. But there is also a remnant of the contained fury that he offered in his prime as an opera conductor. Even when the pacing is relatively slow -- only the Ride of the Valkyries would raise eyebrows today -- the sustained intensity is remarkable. As usual with Klemperer, the woodwinds are placed forward and the oboe plays in the piping, almost whiny English style. I don't find that the current remastring offers a great improvement over the last release of this material. You will still hear compression in the loudest climaxes, which under Klemperer can be crushing in their impact, as in the gods crossing the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla. In general, the sound is open and clear, a model of its kind in 1960 but showing some age fifty years later.

I'm offering this review because there seems to be a neglect of Klemperer among modern listeners. Bleeding chunks are no longer the make-do they once were. We have Ring cycles galore. Yet for sheer musicianship, this collection is a must-listen for any real Wagnerite.

I've loved and cherished these performances for nearly 35 years. Much has been said about Wagner's merits (or lack of them) for over a century and a half. When the music is played as Klemperer and his orchestra play it here, there's little doubt as to why The Master had such an enormous impact on so many in his time.

Just sample the Entry of the God's into Valhalla or Siegfried's Funeral March or the incandescent Prelude to Parsifal. They're among the most sublime, noble, and epic recordings of anything you'll ever hear. Rather sad that within the vast bulk of the recent film version of The Lord of the Rings there's not a single moment that equals these three short pieces. What's the point in all that we create these days if we can't plumb a depth now and then?

This set is indispensible for any Wagnerite or Klemperite! It contains glorious playing of the finest calibre, with much weight, energy and beauty.

A definite in anyone's collection.

I would seriously caution anyone against buying this collection. There's at least two extremely annoying technical glitches. The Lohengrin prelude act 3 is marred by two seperate dissonant trumpet blasts that are each wince-inducing. And something seems to fall on the floor during a quiet passage in the Parsifal prelude, producing a noticeable "THUMP" that will attach itself to your memory of the piece. Highly recommended collection if you see it in the library, good introduction to Wagner by a competent conductor. But significantly flawed.