R. Wagner - Orchestral Highlights from the Operas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg Ov 2. Tristan Und Isolde PRLD to Act I/Isolde's Liebestod 3. Parsifal PRLD to Act I 4. Siegfried Idyll 5. Goterrdammerung Immolation of the Gods

Under the dual influences of Goethe and Berlioz, Wagner wrote a Faust Overture in Paris. Years later, in 1855, he returned to the work, revising it to create an even greater sense of drama and narrative conviction. In the excerpts from his romantic opera Lohengrin we hear the visionary Prelude to Act I and the Act III Prelude, which includes the well-known Wedding March. Elsa's Dream is sung by the internationally acclaimed soprano, Alessandra Marc. The orchestral music from Parsifal contains some of the most transcendent music Wagner ever wrote. Volumes 1 and 3 in this series are available on 8.572767 and 8.572769. Album Tracks 1. A Faust Overture 2. Preludes to Acts I & III (Lohengrin) 3. Elsas Dream (Lohengrin) - Alessandra Marc/Seattle Symphony Orchestra 4. Preludes to Acts I & III (Parsifal) 5. Good Friday Spell (Parsifal)

This selection of some of Wagner's finest orchestral excerpts opens with the 'storm-swept ballad' of Der fliegende Holleñnder, the opera which launched his epoch-defining later masterpieces. The entire span of Der Ring des Nibelungen is represented in this program, from the luminous rainbow bridge which leads the gods to Valhalla in Das Rheingold, the urgent drama of Die Walkure, and the atmospheric repose of the Forest Murmurs in Siegfried, to the tragic depths of Siegfried's Funeral March. This recording has been praised for it's 'radiant sensuousness'. (Gramophone) Volumes 2 and 3 in this series are available on 8.572768 and 8.572769. Album Tracks 1. Overture 2. Entrance of the Gods Into Valhalla 3. Leb' Wohl... Loge Hor! Lausche Hieher, 'Wotan's Farewell' - Feuerzauber 4. Forest Murmurs 5. Dawn - Siegfried's Rhine Journey - Siegfried's Funeral March - Finale