An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen

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(5 stars) - Must-have for "Ring" lovers!
When Georg Solti and John Culshaw approached Deryck Cooke with a request to do an analysis of the various leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring cycle, the first completed recording of which they had recently completed for Decca, they agreed it would be a complex project. The idea that it would occupy a single LP record was quickly discarded due to the fact that Cooke would have to constantly retrace his way through the jungle of motifs and show their interrelatedness and so on. Eventually the form (which took up 2 1/2 LP's and the remainder was filled out by the Solti recordings of the Siegfried Idyll [in its original version] and the seldom-heard Kinderkatechismus -- get it if you can find it!) it took on was the most logical, with motifs grouped according to family resemblances and how they evolved one to another -- Ring family, Spear family, Nature family etc. It is now available on CD although the booklet that came with the LP version showed notated examples of every last motif and only some are shown with musical notation here. A small complaint for a magnificent set. If you love the Ring cycle, this makes an essential companion of which I believe Wagner would have approved.

(5 stars) - Best Introduction to Wagner's Ring
With a work as complex as Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, it is difficult to produce an appropriate introduction for a person who is not already familiar with the work and may not, at first listen, appreciate the musical language that Wagner created for the Ring. Deryck Cooke's introduction effectively gives the listener a glimpse of this musical language that Wagner created through the use of leitmotifs, and Solti's Ring is the perfect recording to use for this purpose. Without this introduction or an understanding of leitmotifs, listeners may just see the Ring as a long fairy tale with nice music and not the geniously woven musical masterpiece that it is, a work that is unmatched in its musical complexity.

(5 stars) - adds greatly to appreciation
Cooke's intro is organized around musical themes. He does a brilliant job of analyzing the various families of motifs, showing how the members of each family evolve out of certain fundamental motifs. The musical illustrations from the Solti Ring are musically gorgeous and have excellent sound.

(5 stars) - A Must Have
If you are serious about Wagner's "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" then this is a must have. I never relized how much I missed before I bought "An Intdroduction to Der Ring Des Nibelungen." My understanding of the music of The Ring has increased tenfold. This recording makes listening to "The Ring" much more enjoyable. I now hear motif's that were always there but I missed. What a great teaching tool. Buy it......

(5 stars) - In Depth and Fascinating
This is a marvelous exposition of the relationship of many of the main musical motives from Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas. It is broken down into families of related motives and so is easy to listen to small parts at a time. The narrator shows how one motive is constructed out of another and explains how the same motive can take on different meanings in different parts of the operas. He discusses the motive and then you hear it played/sung as part of a regular production. In a few cases where the motive might be hard to discern in the midst of a complicated musical portion, the motives are recorded separately to make them more clear. It is valuable for both total novices and those who already have exposure to the material.

It is not a substitute for a libretto, since the story lines and characters are mentioned, but the motives are not played in anything like a chronological order. But the familiarity it gives to the meanings and relationships of the musical motives serves to greatly enrich experience of the operas.

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