Wagner: Orchestral Music from 'The Ring'

Read About This Recording

If you are the kind of music lover who enjoys Richard Wagner's music performed in a consistently Germanic style, with power and incredible sonorities, then this new release featuring orchestral music from Wagner's incredible Ring of the Nibelungen is for you.

Klaus Tennstedt, whose career and life were tragically cut short, was a superb interpreter of what can best be described as music from the heavier repertoire. In this recording, Tennstedt draws amazing playing from the Berlin Philharmonic. From the very first note of the "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre, you will realize that you are listening to the kind of Wagner interpretation that leaves an imprint. And yet, when Wagner calls for more subtlety, such as in the "Forest Murmurs" from Siegfried, Tennstedt reins the orchestra in and weaves many magically delicate phrases.

This recording contains all of the most important orchestral excerpts from the Ring Cycle and actually provides a sort of musical synopsis of the thematic material that is central to Wagner's operas. With exquisite sound that reveals all of the layering that Wagner built into his compositions, this single disc is at once a great listening experience and a nice tribute to a fine conductor.

—Jacob Anthony

Quotes

"The playing throughout is of the finest quality." —Penguin Guide

Contents

Tannhäuser: Overture; Der Ring des Nibelungen: Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries; Wotan's Farewell & Magic Fire Music; Götterdämmerung: Dawn & Siegfried's Rhine Journey; Siegfried's Death & Funeral Music; Das Rheingold: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla; Siegfried: Forest Murmurs.

Berlin Philharmonic; Klaus Tennstedt, Conductor.