Nibelung

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

The first four albums by a rock band follow a very specific pattern, roughly modeled on The Ring of the Nibelung Wagner: birth, conquest, war, destruction. First record where he gives the maximum, a second where it continues its momentum by setting the bar a notch above, and a third where he goes to zero, and if possible in the opposite direction and a fourth as an epitaph or passport to the legend. Hair are still at third, but since they have completely messed up the first two steps, there is nothing particularly surprising to see them get started at full speed against the direction on a route country ravaged by flames, with a disk that is needed quietly as their most spectacular success so far.

In Richard Wagner’s 'Ring of the Nibelung', the first act of 'Die Walküre' takes up a special place. The love-triangle of the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde and the ominous Hunding stands out in the context of this tetralogy because it possesses its own dramatic tension and self-enclosed trajectory within what is otherwise such a complex, richly interconnected series of works. In musical terms it goes from one climax to the next, from the turbulent orchestral prelude through to Siegmund’s love song “Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond” and the passionate union of the sibling couple. At the most recent production at the Vienna State Opera, the twins were sung by Nina Stemme and – for the first time in the role – Johan Botha.

Wilhelm Furtwangler - Great Live Performances 1939-1954 [80CDs Box Set] (2023)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 03:14:03:02 | 11.5 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Tower Records

The memorial project commemorating the 70th anniversary of Furtwängler's death is an unprecedented 80-disc collection of the first and last live recordings.
It has been 70 years since Wilhelm Furtwängler (January 25, 1886 - November 30, 1954) passed away, but his influence extends even to modern conductors, and even now, no one can surpass him. This 80CD collection includes valuable masterpieces from the following six labels that have been passionate about reproducing masterpieces by great masters.
Tahra was founded in 1993 by Myriam, the daughter of great conductor Herman Scherchen, who was also close friends with Furtwängler, and Rene Tremine, a leading figure in the French Furtwängler Association, and has now ceased operations..

With these performances of Götterdämmerung the Palau de les Arts brings the Wagner tetralogy to its climax; a most important project crowned with great success and one that has raised huge expectations both at national and international levels. As a coda to the project, two cycles of the Ring of the Nibelung will be offered during the month of June…