WAGNER – HIS LIFE and MUSIC
Ljudbok. –– FÖRLAGSNY! –– Naxos AudioBooks. 2013.
Nyskick. Fodral i nyskick.
–– FÖRLAGSNY, med skyddsplast! – 7 CD, 9 timmar. Uppläsare: Stephen Johnson. ––
Well over a century after Richard Wagners death, the man and his music are as controversial as ever. Praised for his profound insights into the workings of the human heart, he has also been condemned as a dangerous libertine, a protofascist, and an arrogant bore. His vast four-part operatic Ring cycle has been elevated as one of the greatest achievements of western culture and dismissed as an unparalleled example of creative megalomania.
• This audiobook makes no attempt to gloss over the darker sides of Wagners character, personally or artistically, but argues that the finer aspects of his vision transcend its flaws. It tells the story of an extraordinary life and charts Wagners development, from unpromising beginnings into the creator of some of the most brilliantly innovative and seductively beautiful music ever composed.
"A worthwhile course on one of the greatest opera composers! – The first 2 3/4 CDs are about Wagner's life. The biographical information is reasonably informative, with all periods of Wagner's life covered, from childhood to the days of illness and finally death. On the whole I learnt from and appreciated the biographical portion. I was not intimately familiar with Wagner's biography before I listened.
• From the last CD's, the operas are covered. All the major music dramas are covered, with musical excerpts, several of which are overtüres, prologs or preludes. Very early operas like Die Feen (The Fairies) and Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love) are mentioned but not covered with their own section. The overtüre of Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) is included, but not a full section discussing the opera. There are sections for and excerpts from Der fliegender Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal. The number of excerpts for each opera ranges from one (Holländer) to five (Walküre). The section corresponding to each opera includes a synopsis and a discussion of each act (or, in the case of Rheingold, each scene). The excerpts are all digital recordings from Naxos's catalog.
• There is much to learn here, especially for someone who wants an in depth "introduction" to one of the greatest composers of the West. I am familiar with Wagner's work and I too have learnt from these CDs. A worthwhile addition to the library of most any Wagnerian except perhaps those who already know everything about Wagner and his works. Most of the CDs are worth listening to more than once, even several times. The reading is flawless and the sound quality is excellent. …"
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