Wagner / Goene / Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra - Wagner: Rheingold - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

'Romantic' is a term with several meanings. With a capital 'R', it usually refers to a period roughly from the 1820s until around 1900 during which the work of artists, musicians, writers, including philosophical, political and social thinkers, of the late eighteenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries became highly influential. However, music which could still be regarded as 'Romantic' continued to be composed until and even beyond the Second World War, a situation further complicated by the resurgence of 'Neo-romanticism' since the mid 1970s. With a lower case 'r', the situation is only slightly less ambiguous 'romantic' can mean 'loving', 'idealistic', 'passionate', 'impractical', 'chivalrous', 'unrealistic', 'adventurous', 'amorous', 'deluded', and more besides! As early as 1810, E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) dubbed Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven the three 'Romantic Composers', while Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859) described parts of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as examples of 'good Romantic style'. By the early 1900s the entire 19th Century was regarded by many as 'The Romantic Era', although this all-encompassing retrospective view smoothes over many differences between the aesthetic and political trends that affected Europe in the wake of the French Revolution (1789-1799), those that arose mid-century around 1848 (sometimes referred to as the 'Spring of Nations' or the 'Year of Revolution') and later developments that would culminate in the cataclysm of the Great War (1914-18). The great French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), himself a harbinger of Modernism, wrote in 1846 that 'Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling.' And, though 'the way of feeling' certainly changes-perhaps it's easier to hear the differences between, say, the music of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Richard Strauss (1864-1949) than

There is a glorious trinity of occurrences with this live concert recording of InchDas RheingoldInch performed in the chamber-like space of Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz on April 24 and 25, 2015. Marking the third collaboration between Simon Rattle with an inspired Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, this also marks Rattle's third foray into the heart of this tale that opens Wagner's mighty tetralogy InchThe Ring of the NibelungInch. Both a robust and intimate rendering of the classic and archetypal epic involving mythic gods, goddesses, a search for a ring and the seductive forms that power lust can take; this recording also features the baritone sensation Michael Volle adding to the luster of his prime and a distinguished addition to the roll call of powerfully affecting Wotans, along with the inspired performances by the best of the next generation of Wagner singers.

R. Wagner - Das Rheingold [COMPACT DISCS] date 06/29/2010