Wagner - Overtures & Orchestral Music [Jansons-Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra] 

Not that long ago Wagner's music used to be a closed book to me, i'm not an Opera lover, even though i do find Arias very nice, Wagner epitomises everything that i don't like in Opera, very looong works, the singing almost descends down into speech, unbelievable storylines, and even the purely instrumental music isn't conveniently presented as proper Overtures at the start of every Opera, and yet, he's a great Orchestrator, i'm sure he could of made some wonderful Symphonies, so this was actually the first disc i bought [back in 2007] that was wholly dedicated to his music, so what a pleasant surprise to really get into some of this stuff, since then i have bought other collections too, but his still remains on the fringes of my collection.

Mariss Jansons is Latvian, he is now 69 years old, he made this recording in 1991, the front cover portrait of Jansons is by Rory Carnegie, a white background, and nice shadows behind him, good pose, nice colours, the black lettering is nice.

Well i found all of these 8 pieces almost equally as good as each other, it was hard to pick a 'winner', but certainly tracks 1, 4, 6 & 8 maybe just pip the others, and i guess it's the Tannhauser Overture that i found full of the real essence of Wagner, it's the longest piece on this disc, starting out with a solemn nobility by the lower woodwinds and horns [0:00-0:56], before branching out into the cello's and strings, it  truly starts to blossom [1:52+], and unfolds into a glorious fanfare on the trombones, underpinned by excited violins playing high in the treble [2:08-2:58] it's truly glorious stuff, those strings continue to come back like waves, sometimes high, sometimes low, but they're so contagious!, in the middle of the piece it goes off on a tangent, lighter music that gives a welcome respite from the darkness of the opening, but it sounds like something that Weber or Suppe would write, not Wagner at his best, the opening music comes back [10:35+], this time with very busy but light violins, and again the music froths up to a crescendo [12:15-13:42], the brass really do pull out all the stops in majesty, a lovely piece of music. 

Here's Georg Solti conducting the Tannhauser Overture on YouTube.

Wagner - Overtures & Orchestral Music [Sinopoli-Staatskapelle Dresden] 

I am not someone who can listen my way through a 2 or 3 hour Opera, too much filler, too much talky bits, but when you strip an Opera Composer like Wagner away from his Operas, you end up with some exciting orchestral music, if only Wagner had decided to become a Symphonist like Mahler!, what you end up with is chunks of things, mainly his Overtures and Preludes, now i don't claim to listen to Wagner extensively, but the more i listen to him, the more i enjoy this 'vocal-less' stuff.

Giuseppe Sinopoli is Italian, he died of a heart attack roughly 11 years ago, while conducting Verdi's Aida, he is very much an Opera Conductor, he has a penchant for slow speeds and luxurious textures, he recorded this disc in 1995, the front cover photo [by Ludwig Schirmer] is of Sinopoli standing in the Staatskapelle Dresden Concert Hall, empty of people, you can feel the grandeur of the building, one thing it doesn't show is a good view of the ceiling, and the chandelier in the middle, quite impressive, there's a nice orange glow to the whole thing, and it gives off a sense of scale with the rows of seats, very orderly.

The two pieces i really enjoyed here were Das Liebesverbot Overture [The Ban On Love], and the Tannhauser Overture, the first is unknown to me, and it's good to listen to something new, what else has Wagner got secreted away in the middle of some Opera?, ultimately i find it's this new piece that takes first prize, it lasts nearly 9 minutes long here, it sounds like some trifle from Johann Strauss, or the fizz from an Offenbach Overture, it's great fun, it comes from an early Opera from Wagner, that was a resounding flop, it shows Wagner in a lighter jovial mood, he got more serious in his later works, so it's a shock to the system if you've never heard it before, from Wagner's pen it truly sounds comical and a send up joke at first, the thunderous Polka at the beginning is ingenious [0:05-0:38], and of course it keeps coming around again and again, after some more serious music tries to take over, it keeps inching its way back in, and goes full blast on its silly bubbly-ness, just listen to the frivolity of the high woodwind, especially the piccolo, it's like a marching band on helium! [3:32-3:47], the snaps and whipcracks are great too, near the end there's a trumpet fanfare chorus [6:32-6:40], Wagner throws all sorts of stuff into the mixing bowl, and it finishes with an exhilarating ending, getting faster and faster, i especially like the very end, three abrupt loud stops [8:38-8:47], something Beethoven would do after an Overture, it's a real clown of a piece.

Here's Daniel Harding conducting the Das Liebesverbot Overture on YouTube.

Wagner - Orchestral Works [Barenboim-Orchestre De Paris] 

Here's something different for me, a disc dedicated to the Orchestral parts of Wagner's Operas, unlike say Rossini and Beethoven, who both had well defined Overtures to the start of certain works, and nicely fit onto a disc or two, Wagner's orchestral works are cut from bits all over the place in his Operas, of different lengths and different pigeon holes you would place them in, this makes it harder to create a satisfying recital of his orchestral music, but here certainly is a very nicely chosen bunch of excerpts, maybe Barenboim leans too much on Tristan Und Isolde, and a bit more variety would have been very welcome.

Daniel Barenboim is an Argentine Conductor and Pianist, very much straddling two jobs, he still records new solo Piano recitals, but i guess his main job is Conducting, he is now 68 years old, and this disc was recorded in 1982 & 1983, the front cover booklet illustration is by Victor Vasarely, called 'Cheydt', a really nice geometric design of blues and reds, and the red lettering very much fits into this theme, i like these 3D Classics by DG.

I really enjoyed all of these pieces, of course the last piece on the disc is the most famous, and a real barnstormer, no wonder it's left to last, it makes a rousing finale, but the piece i liked the most is actually track 5, the Prelude to act 1 of 'The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg', i guess in essence it's very much an Overture, 

Here's Daniel Barenboim conducting the Prelude to Act 1 of the Mastersingers Of Nuremburg on YouTube.

Wagner - Siegfried Idyll [Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra]

Here's the 'filler' to the two disc box set of the Bruckner Eighth by Haitink, that i spoke about earlier this month [15th November 2010], something serene and similar i guess to the Bruckner adagio, ever since i first heard this piece, i found it beautiful and comforting, Wagner was of course an Opera Composer, and rarely wrote anything else, so a lot of his 'Orchestral' music is culled from Overtures, Preludes and Intermezzi from his Operas, and of course a lot of it stands up on its own, this is the first time i've mentioned Wagner in my Blog, not a major Composer for me, but i do like his orchestral music.

Bernard Haitink was only featured yesterday, i like him as a Conductor, he is a sound interpreter, maybe a shade slow, but that works better in certain compositions, also he can be a bit literal at times, but he has a huge back catalogue containing all sorts of Composers, he recorded this Wagner work in 1974, a full 7 years before the Bruckner on this set.

The Siegfried Idyll starts off so sweet and innocent, very happy-go-lucky, and at first sounds like it's going to be a strings only study, but after a couple of minutes the flute comes in [2:02+], and then the cor anglais [2:13+], the clarinet [2:19+] and the oboe [2:26+], there's a Mahler-esque rustic country theme that keeps comes up on the woodwinds [5:02+ & 5:59+], and near the end a coda-esque reprise [15:51+], just before the coda, there's a great string surge [13:38+], immensely beautiful, and it hits a passionate climax [13:51], the ending is very well done, and a number of themes are presented in coda, and tunes now have an autumn glow about them, the opening theme [14:33+], as seen in nostalgic glory, with the horns giving a golden burnished tone to the music, and almost at the end there's this lovely turn of phrase [16:24], where a sob of sadness / melancholy comes in, it's a lovely serenade, and reminds me very much of the Bruckner 8 Adagio that's just gone before.

Here's Orlando Alonso conducting Wagner's Siegfried Idyll on YouTube.