Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Advantages: The ultimate operatic experience
Disadvantages: It's complicated, but so was Wagner

...To the uninitiated, listening to the Ring Cycle first is not the best way to try and understand the world of Richard Wagner and his romantic notion of life on earth as we know it today. Something like reading Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game first, then exploring his earlier works. That's a back-to-front approach. Likewise with Wagner. You need to start at the beginning and work your way through the elements of his creativity and composition. When you finally reach the Ring cycle, your love of the music will be enhanced and your understanding about a musical genius fully appreciated. So, let's take a tour of Wagner's operas and try to build a foundation of understanding of his operas from our listening point of view. Some commentators believe the Ring Cycle was clear in Wagner's mind before he started writing any operas... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Music to my ears
Disadvantages: Novocaine for my backside

...I'm sitting here about to write an opinion on Wagner's Ring and wondering seriously if a) I'm mad b) if I'll finish it before the end of my life, and c) whether it will be of any use to anyone else whatsoever. Nevertheless, my Ciao motto is "write what you know", and I know Wagner's Ring, and especially Solti's first, and benchmark, recording at least as well as the back of my hand. I recommend this glorious early sixties boxed-set over and above any other, since you have some of the last links here with singers that studied with those who had worked with Wagner. The glorious Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad appears in one of her final recordings as Fricka in Das Rheingold (when she sat quietly knitting at a piano rehearsal, the general concensus was that "the old girl's past it" until she began to sing...), Hans Hotter turns in... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good casting, decent effects and an enjoyable, well woven tale
Disadvantages: Not much aside of a hint of slightly duff acting

...himself in an ever more tangled skein of plots by those seeking the gold (the Kings advisor Hagan and a mysterious vagranty chap called Alberich), those seeking his heart (Queen Brunnhild of Iceland whom he *ahem* met earlier, and Kriemhild of Burgen) and those seeking the heart of his true love Brunnhild (King Gunther). So will it all turn out badly for Siegfried, as prophesied by the ghost? You'll have to watch to find out. THE NIBELUNGENLIED The film is based on the Germanic epic poem The Neibelungenlied, or Song of the Nibelungs, which has been refered to as 'the German Illiad'. The poem is in turn based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs including word-of-mouth tales of events and characters from the 5th and 6th centuries. Apparently the same poem was the inspiration for Wagners opera cycle Ring of the Nibelungs (Der Ring des... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful