Bel Air Classiques presents Wagner’s mystic masterpiece “Parsifal” in a brilliant staging by Dmitri Tcherniakov in the spectacular Staatsoper Berlin. Wagner’s last completed opera, it was begun in April of 1857 but wasn’t completed until twenty-five years later. It is loosely based on the 13th century epic poem Parzival by Wolfran von Eschenbach, in which an Arthurian knight quests for the Holy Grail. Wagner referred to this work as a “festival play for the consecration of the stage,” rather than an opera. This international cast of outstanding singers lights up the stage, and Daniel Barenboim’s interpretation of the score shimmers in the spotlight.

Die Walkure is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. The story of Die Walkure is based on the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga saga and the Poetic Edda. In this version, the Volsung twins Sieglinde and Siegmund, separated in childhood, meet and fall in love. This union angers the gods, who demand that Siegmund must die. Sieglinde and the couple's unborn child are saved by the defiant actions of Wotan's daughter, the title character, Valkyrie Brunnhilde, who as a result faces the gods' retribution.

Siegfried is the third of the four music dramas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen, by Richard Wagner. It premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle. Siegfried tells the coming-of-age story of the hero that Wagner has promised us at the end of Die Walküre. The most light-hearted of the four dramas, it contains genuine moments of humor. Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, has been raised by the dwarf Mime. However, impatient and inquisitive, he sets off on an adventure like no other. His journey through the opera traces his journey into adulthood, culminating in the meeting with our heroine, Brünnhilde, and the realization that he must cast off his reckless youth and become a man. The present release is a stage recording from the Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm made March, 1987.

'If, in a parallel universe, Wagner wrote a symphony rather than a sixteen-hour Ring, it might actually resemble my Ring Odyssey.' These are the words used by the new music director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Joseph Swensen, to present this anthology of Der Ring des Nibelungen for soprano, tenor, bass-baritone, male chorus and orchestra, which he composed on the basis of Wagner's monumental tetralogy. The American conductor confesses that, during a performance of Tristan, Wagner was suddenly revealed to him as 'a dreamer' full of 'humility, tenderness, vulnerability and generosity'. Swensen has made a point of following the chronology of the operas and respecting the original music: 'My solemn promise to Wagner was that, aside from the occasional solo timpani roll denoting the passage of time, I would not change or add a single note to his masterpiece.' An enthralling traversal, recorded at a memorable concert and delivered by exceptionally committed singers and instrumentalists.

The recordings here by Martha Mödl from 1955 document not only her impeccable rendering of the German, but also her singular singing status. She started out as a mezzo-soprano, but in 1949, with her first Kundry, she switched to the vocal range midway between mezzo and dramatic soprano, and in March 1952 she sang her first Brünnhilde. She was there from the very start in Neubayreuth: From 1951 to 1955, Mödl sang Kundry in all of the Parsifal performances and only began alternating with Astrid Varnay from 1956. She was also cast in the Ring from 1951, first as Gutrune and the Third Norn, and from 1953 also as Brünnhilde and in 1954 as Sieglinde as well. There, too, she alternated with Varnay, who had been performing almost without pause as Brünnhilde since 1951. Mödl sang Isolde in 1952 and 1953. To the director Wieland Wagner she was a “high dramatic soprano free of pathos”. He valued the way her “voice, personality and performance formed an absolutely inseparable whole”. Her stage presence can no longer be experienced through the recordings, but the vocal penetration of the roles can be.

This classic recording of Wagner's preludes and overtures with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Jerzy Semkow, the orchestra's music director from 1975 to 1979. Digitally mastered in high definition from the original analogue tapes.

REVIEW:

This Wagner CD is one of Jerzy Semkow's finest recordings he made with the orchestra during his tenure as its music director. The program opens with a brilliant Meistersinger Overture, heard in all its glory. The Rienzi Overture is no less inspiring. Semkow gives it verve and power, with an opulent sound at a brisk tempo. This gives the music an unusual fire. The Lohengrin Preludes and the evocative Easter Magician are also excellent. The album concludes with a sonorous Ride of the Valkyries, where the phenomenal sound engineering once again ensures a first-class listening experience. Wagner’s music shines in a thousand colors.

— Pizzicato

Velvety sound of unmatched beauty (The Guardian) "Musically, this 'Ring' blew away everything that had gone before - and we are talking about a performance history of more than one hundred years." (Die Welt) "Christian Thielemann creates a sound paradise." (S�ddeutsche Zeitung) "Tcherniakov, as usual, manages details on a level rarely seen in opera." (The New York Times) "A dream cast of voices" (Le Monde) "Wagner at his best." (BR Klassik) "Spectacular und breath-takingly precise, that's how Thielemann illuminates the Wagner score." (NZZ) "Michael Volle's Wotan [...] is an event, [...] Rolando Villaz�n plays a fabulous Loge." (FAZ)

This new recording from the Staatskapelle Weimar under Hansjörg Albrecht presents a rarely heard compilation of Richard Wagner’s themes from Tristan und Isolde, arranged for orchestra by Henk de Vlieger (b. 1953). This is Hansjörg Albrecht's follow-up Wagner recording to his album Der Ring ohne Worte (OC1872). The Staatkapelle Weimar dates back to 1491, making it one of the oldest orchestras in the world, and one that is more than familiar with the works of Richard Wagner.

Wagner's immense imagination reveals itself in the composer's 16-hour Ring cycle, being able to fully captivate worldwide audiences since it's complete performance in 1876 in Bayreuth. Christian Thielemann's conducting of "Velvety sound of unmatched beauty" (The Guardian) leads an extremely sophisticated production, with Tcherniakov's stage that meets the highest technical standards, evolved in ever new, impressive spaces. "Gotterdammerung" is the concluding chapter of Wagner's monumental four-part opus, which he conceived in the light of the revolution of 1848/49 and completed in 1874 after numerous attempts and a long interruption. In many ways, the thematic and musical threads are intertwined in a highly artistic and complex manner. "Tcherniakov, as usual, manages details on a level rarely seen in opera." (The New York Times)

Semperoper Dresden presents an historic performance of Tristan and Isolde, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli and conducted by world-leading conductor Christian Thielemann. The sound he obtains from the Wagnerian score "fills the room with elegiac longing, drawing listeners into the emotional depths of the famous lovers." (Opera Online) Klaus Florian Vogt, in his debut as Tristan, is "fully present and convincing with natural phrasing and clear diction" (Opernmagazin), while Camilla Nylund as Isolde "convinced with her still incredibly lyrical, light soprano" (Sachsische Zeitung). At the zenith of his career, Christian Thielemann manages to set a new standard with his permeation of this difficult score and leads the Staatskapelle Dresden to new heights of artistic expression. "It would be most wonderful if this Tristan never ended." (Opernmagazin). "Brilliant performances that bring you to your knees". (Sachsische Zeitung)

Semperoper Dresden presents an historic performance of Tristan and Isolde, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli and conducted by world-leading conductor Christian Thielemann. The sound he obtains from the Wagnerian score "fills the room with elegiac longing, drawing listeners into the emotional depths of the famous lovers." (Opera Online) Klaus Florian Vogt, in his debut as Tristan, is "fully present and convincing with natural phrasing and clear diction" (Opernmagazin), while Camilla Nylund as Isolde "convinced with her still incredibly lyrical, light soprano" (Sachsische Zeitung). At the zenith of his career, Christian Thielemann manages to set a new standard with his permeation of this difficult score and leads the Staatskapelle Dresden to new heights of artistic expression. "It would be most wonderful if this Tristan never ended." (Opernmagazin). "Brilliant performances that bring you to your knees". (Sachsische Zeitung)

The Wiener Staatsoper presents a Wagner classic staged by duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, who showcase Lohengrin as a crime thriller with a twist. At the podium is Christian Thielemann, who more than proves his reputation as the Wagner-expert par excellence. On stage, David Butt Philip as the titular Lohengrin is a "heldentenor with radiance and stamina" (Kleine Zeitung), while Malin Bystrom portrays an Elsa who might not be as innocent as the libretto suggests and convinces with "dramatic furore" (Der Standard). Anja Kampe sings her Ortrud "beautifully, yet so expressively, with such diction" (Kurier) and Martin Gantner's Telramund is "flawless in it's precision" (News). / "When it comes to Wagner, Christian Thielemann really is in a class of his own" (Der Standard) / "The choirs were a force to be reckoned with, and the orchestra proved it's outstanding quality in harmony with the great Wagnerian Thielemann" (Salzburger Nachrichten)

The Wiener Staatsoper presents a Wagner classic staged by duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, who showcase Lohengrin as a crime thriller with a twist. At the podium is Christian Thielemann, who more than proves his reputation as the Wagner-expert par excellence. On stage, David Butt Philip as the titular Lohengrin is a "heldentenor with radiance and stamina" (Kleine Zeitung), while Malin Bystrom portrays an Elsa who might not be as innocent as the libretto suggests and convinces with "dramatic furore" (Der Standard). Anja Kampe sings her Ortrud "beautifully, yet so expressively, with such diction" (Kurier) and Martin Gantner's Telramund is "flawless in it's precision" (News). / "When it comes to Wagner, Christian Thielemann really is in a class of his own" (Der Standard) / "The choirs were a force to be reckoned with, and the orchestra proved it's outstanding quality in harmony with the great Wagnerian Thielemann" (Salzburger Nachrichten)

This latest instalment in the Great Composers series focuses on the life and times of Richard Wagner. Written by Davinia Caddy, narrated by Nicholas Boulton and featuring excerpts from Wagner’s best-loved operas and more.

In 2024, near Wagner's former Zurich residence, where much of the "Ring des Nibelungen" was composed, Opernhaus Zurich staged it's first complete Ring cycle in more than 20 years, performed under the musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda. "In a way, the 'Ring' returned to it's origins," said Andreas Homoki, stage director of Wagner's grandiose myth, which depicts the rise and fall of an entire world, delving into themes of love, fate, courage, and betrayal. At it's core, the "Ring des Nibelungen" is also a family drama about Wotan, the father of the gods, and his struggle to keep and break treaties, about freedom, it's presence and absence, and his desperate attempts to halt the very downfall he set in motion. Homoki's production brings the gods, humans, and mythical beings strikingly close, making their relationships and motivations vivid and compelling through meticulous character portrayal. The same outstanding cast performs across all four operas, heightening the dramaturgic intensity: Tomasz Konieczny as Wotan, Camilla Nylund as Brunnhilde, Christopher Purves as Alberich, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as Mime, and Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegfried, who also gave his acclaimed role debut in Homoki's Zurich productions. Recorded live at Opernhaus Zurich May 2024

Hardly any work by a great composer has undergone as many arrangements as Richard Wagner's music dramas. Just a few years ago, Cord Garben discovered the "50 Symphonic Movements from Richard Wagner's Music Dramas" in an antiquarian bookshop. They were created by the Hamburg lawyer, composer, and patron Hermann Behn (1859-1927) between 1914 and 1917. While Behn used the "conventional" method in his arrangement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 for two pianos, four hands (Musicaphon M56915)-meaning nothing more than distributing the relevant material of the orchestral score in a way that is easily playable for both pianists-he took a completely different approach with Wagner's dramas. In 1914, he had already achieved his signature symphonic sound on the pianos in his arrangement of the first fragments of the "Ring of the Nibelung." To this end, he skillfully employed doubling of chord sequences and absurdly wide fingerings in the left hand, which can only be reproduced in a "broken" style, i.e., by quickly plucking the notes from bottom to top. This inevitably results in deliberate inaccuracies in the harmony, which-with sufficient pedal use-lead to a previously unheard richness of sound. Christiane Behn (great-grandniece of Hermann Behn) and Cord Garben play Behn's arrangements (in excerpts) on two 1912 Steinways that once belonged to Hermann Behn's cousin Rafael Behn and are now in Christiane Behn's possession. Behn himself once played his arrangements on these instruments (together with his friend Gustav Mahler, among others, as well as with Rafael Behn).

Although the premiere in 1865 was not to be at Vienna State Opera but at Munich’s court theatre (June 10th), Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde was performed more than 400 times at the House on the Ring since its premier in 1883. This live recording from June 2013 under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst presents Nina Stemme as Isolde – her debut in that role at Vienna State Opera –, Peter Seiffert as Tristan (who was honoured Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera the same month the recording was made), Jochen Schmeckenbecher as Kurwenal, Stephen Milling as König Marke and Janina Baechle as Brangäne. The 3 album set was first released in 2019 in the sold out 150 Years Wiener Staastoper – The Anniversary Edition (C980120).

Götterdämmerung ('Twilight of the Gods') is the final opera of Wagner’s epic tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ('The Ring of the Nibelung') in which his visionary masterpiece reaches its cataclysmic conclusion. Betrayal and death, murder and remorse, lie at the opera’s heart, in a work that draws together every plot element in writing of blazing intensity. As the ring is restored to the Rhinemaidens, the age of the gods ends, with the opera offering the certainty of destruction but the consolation of renewal. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. The release includes "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Stefan Herheim and Sir Donald Runnicles, and behind the scenes footage.

The Flying Dutchman was Wagner's breakthrough opera. Though Wagner still employed independent arias and choruses, his operatic concept transcended earlier works such as Rienzi, which was influenced by French grand opera. The supernatural tale of the Dutchman, condemned to roam the seas unless redeemed by a wife who will be faithful to him unto death, inspired an ambitious work in which Wagner was able to unite his dramatic and musical vision with a powerful combined effect for the first time.

Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen concludes with Götterdämmerung. The composer’s original draft, in which the gods are redeemed by the hero Siegfried’s sacrifice, had fundamentally changed by 1874. Now in this ‘cosmic catastrophe’ Brünnhilde rides into Siegfried’s funeral pyre, the Rhine overflows and Valhalla perishes, and the gods with it. It’s the longest and most complex of the four music dramas, and its orchestration is also the most colorful and sophisticated. Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Funeral March and Brünnhilde’s immolation scene are some of Wagner’s most potent theatrical moments and bring this drama to a shattering conclusion.

SOMM Recordings is immensely proud to present newly restored releases of Siegfried Wagner (1869-1930) conducting the music of his father, Richard Wagner (1813-1883). These recordings of the younger Wagner leading the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra were made soon after the introduction of the electrical recording process in April 1925. The painstaking audio restoration of these recordings by long-time SOMM collaborator, Lani Spahr, has been so expertly and stunningly achieved that it is difficult to believe they come from a century ago. Siegfried Wagner was named for the young hero in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle and immortalized in the Siegfried Idyll, included on this release. He was born to Richard Wagner and his future wife, Cosima (nee�Liszt), on 6 June 1869. Although Siegfried considered following a profession outside music (and, as a youth, studied architecture in Berlin and in Karlsruhe), it was inevitable that he would follow a career in music given the lineage of both his parents and his grandfather, Franz Liszt. In addition to receiving instruction in music from Liszt, the thirteen-year-old Siegfried began his advanced musical studies in Frankfurt with Engelbert Humperdinck, a true disciple of Richard Wagner. Siegfried became an assistant at Bayreuth in 1892, immersing himself in his father's music under the strong influence of Cosima Wagner and the conductor Hans Richter. In 1895, he made his debut at Bayreuth conducting a complete Ring cycle. The debut was a considerable artistic success, and Siegfried's future as the true guardian of the Wagner inheritance was assured, as he took a greater share in the direction of the Bayreuth Festival. With Cosima's full endorsement, Siegfried assumed the general directorship from his mother in 1908. Siegfried's busy professional life was devoted in the main to Bayreuth in the 1920s, but it was also during this time that he began a recording career devoted almost exclusively to his father's and his own works. Apart from his evident qualities as a conductor of his father's music-heard here in the recorded legacy he left of his performances at Bayreuth and in Berlin and London-he was equally keen to establish himself as a composer. The first of his twelve completed operas, Der Barenhauter (Bearskin) inspired by the German fairytale, met with public and critical acclaim when it was produced in 1899. The acoustic recording of the overture is heard here. Among the Richard Wagner works conducted by Siegfried Wagner on this historic release are well-known selections from Das Rheingold and Die Walkure from the Ring Cycle. Also included are a suite from Parsifal and selections from Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and Tristan und Isolde.

Gotterdammerung ('Twilight of the Gods') is the final opera of Wagner's epic tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ('The Ring of the Nibelung') in which his visionary masterpiece reaches it's cataclysmic conclusion. Betrayal and death, murder and remorse, lie at the opera's heart, in a work that draws together every plot element in writing of blazing intensity. As the ring is restored to the Rhinemaidens, the age of the gods ends, with the opera offering the certainty of destruction but the consolation of renewal. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. The release includes "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Stefan Herheim and Sir Donald Runnicles, and behind the scenes footage.

The recording of this CD�stood entirely under the motto of Richard Wagner, reflecting our desire to put on several of his works in arrangements for chamber music ensemble. Thus, with this Wagner Project, we present several rarities along with a world premiere.�For one, we are thrilled to introduce Engelbert Humperdinck's almost entirely unknown arrangement of the prelude to Tristan und Isolde.�We also have the particular pleasure of presenting Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in the composer's own chamber music arrangement, a particularly gratifying piece for small ensemble.

Global Wagner – From Bayreuth to the World is not a biography of Richard Wagner, nor is it a musicological analysis of his work. This is a documentary dedicated solely to the world’s fascination with the man, and an exploration of the question as to how such massive hype and world-wide cult following developed around this highly controversial artist. The film is a revealing feature-length study of life with Wagner’s legacy from one Bayreuth Festival to the next, and we travel the world to meet devoted Wagnerians and those most intimately involved in commenting on and producing his work today.

Wieland Wagner's "Siegfried" live in Bayreuth (1955) Modl is present from the very first note, and, just for a moment, Wagner's idea of the union of man and woman into the perfect human being seems to have become reality. Brunnhilde's visions of fear are then of oppressive intensity, followed by moments of peaceful illusion and elemental power, before she unconditionally relinquishes her divinity. In her autobiography So war mein Weg, Modl confesses that the Siegfried-Brunnhilde interplay was the most difficult role she experienced in the entire Ring: "The part is short, but it is always a third above my register. I had to be particularly careful", something she had to do most of the time. What Wieland Wagner appreciated about her was that "her singing, personality, and acting formed an inseparable unit", most probably the reason he said of her Brunnhilde: "There are none like you!"