Wagner: Overtures, Preludes & Orchestral Excerpts

Featuring

Marek Janowski
Christian Gerhaher
Fritz Kothner
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Richard Wagner

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Richard Wagner believed music to be the "supreme, the most cathartic of the arts," and his works are characterized by breaking taboos and radical treatment of conventions.

Recording & Production

This album is part of a project where conductor Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin recorded Wagner's entire 'Bayreuth canon' in benchmark-setting five-channel technology.

Interpretation

Conductor Marek Janowski, who had withdrawn from opera in the 1990s, proved his withdrawal was from the institution of opera, not its music, by leading a concertante Wagner cycle.

Critical Reception

Musicologist Paul Bekker highlighted Robert Schumann's change of heart towards Wagner's opera Tannhäuser, with Schumann admitting he was "very moved by a great deal of it" after seeing it staged.

Compositional Technique

The orchestral excerpts on this album feature only original Wagner music, avoiding arrangements that omit singers or replace them with instruments, reflecting Wagner's consistent adoption of symphonic principles.

Compositional Technique

Wagner's orchestral style evolved from mere accompaniment to an independent means of expression, acting as a symphonically imagined "bearer" of the music drama's true substance.

Cultural Impact

Wagner's music has significantly influenced 20th and 21st-century music, including the Hollywood movie industry and composers like Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, and Arnold Schönberg.