Latest News: Classical, Wagner (composer)
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Recording of the Week,
In The Shadows with Michael Spyres 1st March 2024The American singer teams up with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset to explore some of the operas which influenced Wagner - including works by Méhul, Beethoven, Meyerbeer and Spontini.
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Interview,
Dominic Fyfe and Philip Siney on remastering Solti's Ring Cycle 5th October 2023In the wake of winning Gramophone's Spatial Audio Award for their painstaking work on Die Walküre, Decca's producer Dominic Fyfe and sound-engineer Philip Siney discuss how they went about showcasing Solti's landmark achievement in all its glory.
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Recording of the Week,
Igor Levit's Tristan 16th September 2022Hans Werner Henze's brilliant, baffling set of ‘Preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra’ sits at the heart of this Wagner-inspired recital, which also includes music by Liszt and Mahler via Ronald Stevenson.
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Interview,
Catherine Foster on Wagner 16th April 2020The British dramatic soprano, who sings Brünnhilde on the Weimar Ring Cycle which is now available on Arthaus Musik, talks to Katherine about her remarkable journey from midwifery to Bayreuth.
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Recording of the Week,
Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss 31st May 2019The robust young Norwegian soprano thrills in scenes from Tannhäuser and Ariadne auf Naxos, and Strauss's Four Last Songs.
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Interview,
Lise Davidsen on Wagner & Strauss 27th May 2019The Norwegian lyric-dramatic soprano discusses her career so far and her debut album on Decca, out this Friday.
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Interview,
Jaap van Zweden on the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Ring Cycle 13th November 2018As the final instalment of the cycle on Naxos is released, the conductor talks to Katherine about the project's origins, and the challenges and rewards of tackling Wagner's epic with an orchestra whose primary home is the concert-hall rather than the opera-house.
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Interview,
Stuart Skelton on Wagner 4th October 2018The Australian tenor (currently singing Siegmund in the Royal Opera House's Ring Cycle) talks to Katherine about his career as a Wagnerian and his debut solo recording Shining Knight, recently released on ABC Classics.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner's Die Meistersinger from Bayreuth, directed by Barrie Kosky 27th July 2018Katherine reviews the Australian director's complex but illuminating 2017 production, which places the composer himself at the heart of the action.
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Recording of the Week,
Matthias Goerne - The Wagner Project 17th November 2017German baritone Matthias Goerne offers a selection of monologues from Wagner's operas, accompanied by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.
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Interview,
Kasper Holten on Das Liebesverbot 11th March 2017With his new production of Die Meistersinger opening at Covent Garden tonight, Katherine talks to the director about his recent staging of Wagner's neglected early comic opera.
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Recording of the Week,
Matthias Goerne sings Wotan in Wagner's Die Walküre 11th November 2016Katherine listens to the next instalment in Naxos's Ring Cycle, conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
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Favourites,
Richard Wagner James selects some of his favourite audio and video recordings of the music of Richard Wagner from amongst the many outstanding available accounts.
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Recording of the Week,
Jonas Kaufmann sings Wagner’s Parsifal 17th February 2014The German tenor gives the performance of his career as Wagner’s ‘Holy Fool’ in François Girard’s production from the Metropolitan Opera, with René Pape as Gurnemanz and Katarina Dalayman as Kundry.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner from Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra 24th June 2013Wonderfully balanced and beautifully characterised accounts of the Overture to Die Meistersinger, the Siegfried Idyll and three excerpts from Götterdämmerung, including an Immolation Scene of laser-sharp accuracy and thrilling power from Petra Lang.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner from Jonas Kaufmann and others 11th February 2013Gergiev conducts an electrifying Walküre starring René Pape as Wotan, Nina Stemme as his rebel daughter, and Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Kampe as the Walsung Twins; Kaufmann’s solo album of opera scenes and the Wesendock-Lieder, meanwhile, is the best thing he’s ever done.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner - Klaus Florian Vogt and a new Parsifal 26th March 2012The sweet-toned German tenor presents a portfolio of heavyweight heroes, whilst Marek Janowski’s Wagner cycle on Pentatone continues with a marvellously paced Parsifal, starring Christian Elsner as the ‘holy fool’.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner’s Flying Dutchman starts PentaTone’s 10th anniversary celebrations 19th September 2011The first in a projected cycle of Wagner’s ten major operas from Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin stars Albert Dohmen in commanding form as the accursed sailor looking for love, Matti Salminen as a first-rate Daland, and Ricarda Merbeth as a stentorian Senta.
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Recording of the Week,
Wagner's Parsifal from the Mariinsky and Gergiev 20th September 2010Taken from live performances in St Petersburg last June, Gergiev’s vividly theatrical reading of Wagner’s Bühnenweihfestspiel stars Gary Lehman as the titular ‘holy fool’, Violeta Urmana as Kundry, and René Pape as Gurnemanz.
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Recording of the Week,
A Ring cycle for the 21st Century 4th January 2010La Fura del Baus brings Wagner’s eighteen-hour epic to life with striking choreography and special effects, and a superb cast including American soprano Jennifer Wilson as Brünnhilde and bass Matti Salminen as Fasolt, Hunding and Hagen.