Search - Stokowski, Wagner, London Symphony Orchestra :: Orchestral Masterpieces

Superbly played excerpts from Wagner's Ring

12/17/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Stokowski was the ultimate Wagner conductor. He made no attempt to tame Wagner's music but presented it in all of it's almost superhuman glory. Stokowski's Wagner is beautifully lyrical, thrilling, even bombastic -- whatever each individual excerpt calls for. I would suggest that anyone who hasn't heard Wagner's music conducted by Stokowski hasn't really heard it in its full glory. This collection of excerpts from the Ring is a good place to start."

Great if you're here for thrills and not subtlety

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Did anyone approach Stokowski for prolific recordings? There are currently 16 CDs sitll in print of his Wagner. This Phase 4 collection gathers an hour's worth of familiar excerpts from 1966, when the conductor was 84, plus an added 1972 Meistersinger Prelude that is live. The results are broad, romantic, and thrilling. I went for the cinematic sound (except in the Ride of the Valkyries, where the piccolo hovers like a giant banshee). Would Wagner have objected to hearing his music twice as large as life?



The prevailing style here is extroverted and unsubtle, but Stokowski was a serious Wagnerian, and his unthrottled conducting stays musically in bounds (barely). The 1972 Meistersinger excerpt, made at age 90, brings us back to realistic orchestral sound, and I must say Stokowski acquits himself magnificently. Hats off and a smile for the old rogue."