Post by akiralx April 13, 2010 (1 of 20)
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Another feast for Wagnerians? I enjoyed the Ring Adventure.
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Post by tream April 13, 2010 (2 of 20)
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akiralx said:
Another feast for Wagnerians? I enjoyed the Ring Adventure.
For Faux-Wagnerites and poseurs. Real Wagnerites listen to the complete operas, not Wagner-lite. :-)
OK, these things have their place. I don't think you need more than one, and I bought the Edo De Waart (engineered by the intrepid Jared Sacks) years ago. I would be way more up for a complete Parsifal on SACD than this.
So it seems to me that the correct noun for someone who loves Wagner is "Wagnerite" - Wagnerian is an adjective, like, you know "Large Wagnerian Mother, with a voice that shatters glass." I would actually have preferred Wagnerian, but it seems wrong as a noun.
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Post by armenian April 14, 2010 (3 of 20)
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Well, not an SACD, my all time favorite Wagner orchestral pieces came on a London Phase-4 LP with Stokowski adding his own brand of improvements and with a little help from Phase-4 technology of individually miking each instrument.
Talk about over the top, everything else pales in comparison.
Vahe
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tream said:
For Faux-Wagnerites and poseurs. Real Wagnerites listen to the complete operas, not Wagner-lite. :-)
I would be way more up for a complete Parsifal on SACD than this.
Opera on SACD was never big, and I do not see it standing much of a chance now that Blu-ray is out there. BR is absolutely stunning for opera, both visually and sonically. Personally, I think it sounds at least as good as, maybe better than, SACD. Plus, the opera fits on fewer BR disks because of their higher capacity. Hence, production costs and purchase prices tend to be lower, in spite of the added video, subtitle, etc. content. And, you can turn the video off, if you just want to listen. I think we will see a lot of opera on BR. It's a no-brainer.
There is an Opus Arte Parsifal BR scheduled for release in May. We may never see a complete one on SACD.
On another note, I just saw and heard some excerpts from the Mehta/Valencia Siegfried BR. Wow!!! I have got to get this. The setting is modern, but not Euro-trash, with a stunning way of projecting IMAX-like videos behind the singers. Andy Quint will be reviewing this entire Ring in Listener Magazine shortly. Hint: he loves it, and he has every Ring recording and video ever made. He feels that it is a very traditional interpretation, in spite of the modern staging. I liked what I saw much better than the famous old Chereau Ring in modern garb.
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Post by tream April 14, 2010 (5 of 20)
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Fitzcaraldo215 said:
Opera on SACD was never big, and I do not see it standing much of a chance now that Blu-ray is out there. BR is absolutely stunning for opera, both visually and sonically. Personally, I think it sounds at least as good as, maybe better than, SACD. Plus, the opera fits on fewer BR disks because of their higher capacity. Hence, production costs and purchase prices tend to be lower, in spite of the added video, subtitle, etc. content. And, you can turn the video off, if you just want to listen. I think we will see a lot of opera on BR. It's a no-brainer.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of watching opera at home, especially multiple times of the same production, so I am not sure opera on BR is going to be for me. I don't have BR capability hooked up to my sound system. Maybe that will change and I could play the operas without watching. This thread did inspire me to order the Profil Lohengrin this month - although Lohengrin is not my favorite Wagner opera, I have heard very good things about this recording, and I wanted to grab it before it goes out of print. This means that I have, on SACD, the Gerdes Tannhauser (sure glad I got that when I did, given what I hear about pricing), this Lohengrin, and the Fisch Ring. Oh yeah, the Solti Ring on Esoteric as well, how could I forget the $$ I spent on that! I'll shed a tear for Dutchman, Tristan, Meistersinger and Parsifal.
I fear you are correct that we will never see Parsifal on SACD. Guess I will have to be satisfied with the recordings I have, which include Knappertbusch 56 and 62 and Solti on LP, and Kubelik and Barenboim on CD, as well as the excepts conducted by Muck on Naxos. Oh, and the de Waart "Orchestral Quest" on CD. The essentials on that list are the Knappertbusch 62 (although folks rave about the 64 with Vickers - I haven't heard it), the Kubelik, and the Muck excepts.
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Fitzcaraldo215 said:
There is an Opus Arte Parsifal BR scheduled for release in May. We may never see a complete one on SACD.
Mariinsky label will release complete Parsifal this year, Gergiev conducts, Violetta Urmana & Rene Pape sing. (in pure DSD ;-)
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Post by hiredfox April 15, 2010 (7 of 20)
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tream said:
This thread did inspire me to order the Profil Lohengrin this month - although Lohengrin is not my favorite Wagner opera, I have heard very good things about this recording, and I wanted to grab it before it goes out of print.
It's BBC Music magazine Record of the Year for 2010. That's how good it is.
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rusal said:
Mariinsky label will release complete Parsifal this year, Gergiev conducts, Violetta Urmana & Rene Pape sing. (in pure DSD ;-)
Quite a pleasant surprise.
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tream said:
This thread did inspire me to order the Profil Lohengrin this month - although Lohengrin is not my favorite Wagner opera, I have heard very good things about this recording, and I wanted to grab it before it goes out of print.
Excellent choice even though there is a competent BR Lohengrin. My comments here: http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/music_in_the_round_38/index4.html
Kal
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Post by tream April 15, 2010 (10 of 20)
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