 |
 |
| 5186015 | 5186019 |
 |
 |
| 5186041 | 5186058 |
 |
 |
| 5186065 | 5186066 |
 |
 |
| 5186082 | 5186302 |
| 1 | Der fliegende Holländer (The flying Dutchman) - Overture |
11. 30 |
|
| 2 | Rienzi Overture | 12. 53 |
|
| 3 | Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Prelude (Vorspiel) |
11. 12 |
|
| 4 | Tannhäuser Overture |
15. 12 |
|
| 5 | Lohengrin Prelude 3rd Act (Vorspiel 3. Akt) |
3. 10 |
|
| Tristan und Isolde | |||
| 6 | Prelude (Vorspiel) | 13. 08 |
|
| 7 | Isoldens Liebestod | 7. 08 |
|
Total playing time : |
75. 06 | ||
 |
 |
Richard
Wagner (1813-1883) PTC 5186 041
Download mp3 from: or: classics online Download Biographies - Discographies in PDF Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam Yakov Kreizberg
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
||
Richard
Wagner, a symphonic composer in disguise
The overtures and preludes to his operas and music dramas
“
I do not know precisely what is my destination: however, I do know that one
evening, after for the first time hearing a symphony by Beethoven, I became
feverish and ill. As soon as I recovered, I became a musician.” Thus
Richard Wagner described the enormous impression that Beethoven’s music
had made on him in his novelette Eine Pilgerfahrt zu Beethoven (= a pilgrimage
to Beethoven). Although it is difficult to separate fact and fiction in this
novelette, Beethoven’s music did indeed exert a major influence on the
life of the young composer. Wagner was 17 years old when he first heard Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 9, a work which was to play a central role during his entire
life, and which he was, for instance, to conduct in 1846 at the opening
of the Festival
Theatre in Bayreuth.
At this time, Wagner also began to compose music. The first works he penned
included a string quartet, piano music and a number of overtures (including
one for Schiller’s play Die Braut von Messina (= the bride of Messina).
In 1832, he completed his Symphony in C within six weeks (as he himself recorded),
which was performed in Prague that same year. A year later, Mendelssohn programmed
this symphony for a concert at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Although Wagner never
actually quoted his great example Beethoven in this work, he did admit that
he could never have written the slow movement of the symphony had he not first
heard the Andante from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and the Allegretto
from his Symphony No. 7.
Remarkably, Wagner hung on to this early work, as opposed to many other
scores, which he destroyed. He conducted it himself only once: in 1882,
one year
before his death, for the birthday of his wife, Cosima. That performance
marked a
turning point in the way Wagner thought as a composer. Until that moment,
he had believed that there was no real sense in instrumental music by itself,
and that it could develop into something meaningful only within the context
of a music drama. He then wrote that he planned to turn his back on the
music theatre and to dedicate himself entirely to the development of a
new symphonic
form. Beethoven had taken the sonata form – in which contrasting themes
are responsible for the development – to its limits. Wagner planned to
write one-movement symphonies, in which one single melody would be developed
ceaselessly, in similar fashion to the so-called ‘Orchestermelodie’ (=
orchestral melody): the continuously developing network of ‘leitmotivs’ in
his music dramas.
Unfortunately, these orchestral works never came about, as Wagner died
at his desk on February 13, 1883. Therefore, his symphonic oeuvre remains
limited
to the above-mentioned symphony; the Faust Overture from 1840/1844; the
Siegfried Idyll, which he wrote for Cosima’s birthday in 1870; and
a number of less important short pieces.
Overtures: Rienzi, Der fliegende Holländer (= The Flying Dutchman), Tannhäuser
Wagner’s most important contributions to symphonic literature are
perhaps the overtures and preludes to his operas, as well as the instrumental
sections
from Der Ring des Nibelungen. Although his Siegfried Idyll was composed
as an independent orchestral work, it is still based on themes from his
opera
Siegfried.
In a number of overtures, Wagner continues to elaborate on the romantic opera
overture in which the most important themes from the work are reviewed. But
instead of writing a colourful potpourri of catchy melodies, Wagner uses the
overture to immediately introduce the drama. This is the case, for instance,
in the overture he wrote for Rienzi in the autumn of 1840, after completing
the rest of the opera. The overture provides a short summary of the most important
moments in the opera. In the opening, we hear the prayer of the hero to whom
the title refers, followed shortly by the flourish of trumpets which announce
the insurrection, and later yet by the love theme of Irene and Adriano.
As the première of Rienzi met with such success in Dresden on October
20, 1842, the directors of the Court Opera decided to also stage Wagner’s
new opera, Der fliegende Holländer, and to offer him a position there
as conductor. In Der fliegende Holländer, Wagner gives the orchestra
a more important role as the conveyor of the drama. Once again, he wrote
the
overture after completing the rest of the score. It unites not so much
the different situations, as the various important elements of the opera:
the
storm and the sea; the Dutchman and his appalling destiny; and the world
of the mariners.
In the overture for his following opera, Tannhäuser, Wagner took a major
step in the musical sense of the word. In this work he used the harmony and
orchestration to contrast musically the purity and chastity of Elisabeth’s
love with the sensuality of Venus’ love.
Preludes: Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde
It is but a small step from Tannhäuser to Lohengrin, which Wagner orchestrated
with remarkable opulence and density. The music flows forth almost without
interruption, and the technique of recurring themes - a harbinger of the ‘leitmotiv’-technique – is
implemented to a much greater extent. Furthermore, Wagner characterizes the
various dramatis personae not just by using different musical material, but
also – mainly – by using different keys. In Lohengrin, Wagner
departs from the romantic overtures he had so far composed. The prelude
to the first
act can best be described as a short symphonic poem, which bears no direct
relationship to the plot of the opera. Wagner himself described this prelude
as a musical vision of the Holy Grail, which descends from heaven and for
a short while shines its light on the world of the mortals, after which
it once
again disappears from sight. By contrast, the atmosphere reflected in the
prelude to the third act provides an exciting and flamboyant introduction
to the marriage
between Lohengrin and Elsa.
In a certain sense, the prelude to Tristan und Isolde is a further development
of the prelude to the first act of Lohengrin: it is a closed composition,
which to a certain extent is detached from the plot of the work. Wagner
began writing
the prelude while working on the first act in April 1858. He did not complete
the concert version until 1859 and the following year he himself gave the
première
in Paris. As in the Lohengrin prelude, Wagner concentrates here on a limited
number of short ‘leitmotivs’, which are allowed to climax in
a great musical commotion and which symbolize the crux of the drama. In
a musical
sense too, this prelude contains the essence of the work: i.e. the famous,
harmonically ambiguous Tristan chord, which is not resolved until the end
of the opera. The famous Liebestod at the end of the opera refers thematically
to the prelude: however, now it is no longer dominated by light and budding,
all-encompassing love, but by darkness and death. When the opera ends in
the
key of B, it by no means leaves behind a sense of resignation: mainly,
it is a confirmation of the tragedy which has taken place.
A one-movement symphony?
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
The prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg can be characterized as
a counterpart to the prelude to the first act of Lohengrin. It is by far
the longest prelude ever written by Wagner. The composer penned the first
sketches in November 1861 and completed the work in February/March of the
following year. By then, he had already written the bulk of the libretto,
but had not yet put down on paper even a single note of the actual opera.
At first, Wagner seems to be taking a step backwards in this prelude, as
once again we are treated to a foretaste of the most important musical themes:
the theme of the Meistersinger, the march of the guilds, Walther von Stolzing’s
Prize Song, and the great love theme. However, as the eminent German musicologist
Carl Dahlhaus stated, this is only the upper layer. Just beneath the surface
of this potpourri lies an orchestral work in its own right, in which the
strict formal structure of a classical symphony has been compressed into
one movement. Two themes are produced, then contrasted and further developed
in the development, and finally presented again in combined form in a kind
of recapitulation. Furthermore, the ‘character’ of the four movements
of the symphony – allegro, andante, scherzo and finale – is the
basis for this four-movement structure.
Following his early symphony, Wagner did not write another symphonic work.
However, the disguised symphonic poems and one-movement symphonies formed
by the overtures and preludes to his operas are sufficient to earn Wagner
a ranking amongst the great symphonic composers of the nineteenth century.
“Superior acoustics and superior PentaTone engineering are particularly
flattering to the rich and burnished string sound so essential to a convincing
Wagnerian reading.”
--Harry Pearson, The Absolute Sound
“A recording like five pieces of cake with whipped cream after one
another, but with Champaign rather than coffee.”
--Matthias Reisner, rondomagazin.de
“The Dutch Orchestra is clearly a world-class ensemble. Wind solos
are exemplary, strings are warm and full, and the brass majestic. PentaTone’s
5.0 multichannel is a real treat for surround sound enthusiasts.”
--Andrew Quint, Fanfare
“Yakov
Kreizberg conducts really fine performances of these two repertoire favorites…In
stereo this live recording sounds gorgeous, but DSD multichannel format offers
even more precise instrumental positioning and greater front-to-back depth,
all with brilliant highs and a rock-solid bass. But make no mistake, even
without
the audiophile credentials the quality of the music-making on offer speaks
for itself.”
---Dave Hurwitz, Classics Today, (10/30/2003)
“Apart from the fact that this are first
SA-CD registrations of these works, they can compete with the best recordings
in the
catalogue.”
---Paul Janssen, Luister (December 2003)
“This is a superb surround recording with plenty of hall sound from the
rear speakers.”
---Bob Bensen,www.classicalcdreview.com
“..Great playing by an orchestra which clearly has this music in its
veins conducted by a chef who seems to be born for this repertoire… for
those who own a super-audio set with 5 speakers a “must”.
---René Segers, Luister
“…if you have a five-speaker system of fairly similar speakers,
you will be transported by the fire and gusto of these recordings. This reading
of the Flying Dutchman Overture will make you realize why the music was once
used on the soundtrack of so many movie serials and TV shows.”
---John Sunier, Audiophile Audition
Classical CD of the week
--The Telegraph, London
