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Richard Wagner: Orchestral Music From Between The Wars Beecham, Walter, Von Schillings & Wood Recorded 1926-1938 VIP Records CL-1002 - $12.50 (US Shipping Including) 
 The music of Richard Wagner rose to an unprecidented level of cultural importance between the two World Wars, for both good reasons and bad. On one hand, listeners in the twenties and thirties were provided with an embarassment of riches when it came to conductors and singers able to excel in Wagner's difficult scores. On the other hand, Wagner's music was appropriated as a propaganda tool by of one of the 20th century's most heinous political movements. The taint still lingers, adding a sour note to some of the most beautiful music ever performed. This collection of Wagner instrumental excerpts brings together a wide variety of interpretation of some of Wagner's greatest music. Several of the conductors on this collection were great men, one in particular was a remarkably bitter and cruel one... but whether the conductor was heroic or villainous, the music of Richard Wagner speaks for itself, sweeping away politics and flawed personalities, replacing them with passion and beauty that everyone with ears to hear can connect with. 
The collection opens with a recording by one of the most famous conductors of the 20th century. Sir Thomas Beecham was a multi-faceted British conductor, as adept at the interpretation of the music of Handel and Mendelssohn as he was with Delius and Sibelius. His recording of the overture to The Flying Dutchman, made in 1937 was the primary recommended recording of the work throughout the 78rpm era. One listen to the visceral impact of the windswept waves of music will clearly show why it was so highly regarded. Beecham's quick wit made him the subject of many funny stories. My favorite is the one about the female cellist whose playing displeased Beecham. He politely pointed out the problem to her, but she continued, oblivious to his irritation... "Madam" Beecham quipped, "You posess between your legs an instrument capable of bringing great pleasure to mankind, yet you persist in scratching it!"
Bruno Walter was perhaps the greatest Wagnerian of his day. He studied under Mahler in Vienna and rose to fame in the 1920s. His Jewish heritage eventually brought about persecution by the Nazi regime in the early 30s. In 1938, he was forced to leave the country and abandon his post as principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. He became an American citizen during the war, and his fame as a conductor flourished throughout the world until he passed away in 1962. Walter's specialty was music from the German tradition... Beethoven, Mahler and of course Wagner. Those who have heard my CD of the first act of Die Walkure from 1936 know that in this music, he knows no peer. The early electrical recording of Siegfried's Rhine Journey included on this CD was made in May of 1927 and was released on the Columbia Viva Tonal label. The vividness of sound must have been astonishing to listeners of the time who were probably accustomed to the constricted and unbalanced sound of acoustic orchestral records.
Next on this collection is an extensive set of excerpts from Wagner's final opera, Parsifal. These recordings are seldom heard today, not so much because of the quality of the recordings themselves, but because of the notoriety of the person responsible for creating them. Max Von Schillings was a composer and conductor who began his career studying under Strauss in Munich. He moved on to the Royal Court Theater in Stuttgart, and eventually achieved the prestigious position of the head of the Berlin Opera. But this success was short lived. Controversy regarding creative and financial matters forced Von Schilling from this post in the mid-1920s. His career drifted for a couple of years, until he landed a guest conductor position with the Berlin State Opera in late 1927. It is from this period that the recordings on the CD were made. The conductor most associated with Parsifal at Bayreuth in the 50s, Hans Knappertsbusch steps in to conduct one part.From here, Von Schillings' actions become indefensible... When Hitler came to power in 1933, he appointed Von Schillings Director of the Prussian Academy of Arts. Von Schillings took advantage of this position to settle old scores with the people who opposed him in the past. He expelled "non-Aryan" members of the Academy, and participated in the firing and blackballing of Jewish musicians, including Arnold Schoenberg. He was a particularly vindictive person, and few mourned his death later that same year from a heart attack. Wilhelm Furtwangler studied under Von Schilling, and listening to these Parsifal excerpts, one can hear the impact he had on that great conductor of Wagner's music. But as beautiful as these recordings are, Von Schillings' reputation has forever cast a cloud over his music-making. I offer these rare transfers, not in tribute to the man himself, but to the transcendent quality of Wagner's music. 
Last on this CD is an odd recording of the Rhine Maidens' Song from Gotterdammerung by Sir Henry Wood. Wood is best known as the founder of the famous Albert Hall Prominade Concerts. The Rhine Maidens' Song was recorded in 1926, and was one of Columbia's earliest classical electrical recordings. Wood uses an orchestra that is reduced in size... so reduced that the music sounds totally different than the way it appears in the opera. It's clear that Columbia hadn't yet developed its techniques for recording electrically. The reduced orchestra and close miking make the record sound more like an acoustic recording than an electrical one. This record won't win any awards for sound or correct presentation... Wood freely rearranges the music into a dandied-up stew of themes... but it does have a certain naive charm.Preserving transparency and dynamics in a recording of as many as 80 musicians performing Wagner's monumental music is a difficult task even under the best of modern conditions, but under the severe technical limitations of early electrical recording, it must have been a real challenge. It's amazing how vivid and lifelike some of these old recordings can be. A few of the records I used for this transfer had rough passages. This isn't uncommon for records from this era. In my restoration, I was careful to preserve the integrity and presence of the music. There are a few spots where a slight crackle or tiny bump might intrude briefly, but overall, I think you will be impressed with the amazing sonics of these historic recordings. -Stephen Worth I would like to thank the participants in rec.music.classical.recordings for the valuable information they provided for these liner notes. In particular, I appreciate the input of Mike Scott Rohan and Rob Barnett.
These CD's are $12.50 apiece. Shipping within the US is included. Shipping to Canada is an additional $2.50 for the first CD, and $1 for each additional CD shipped with the same order. International shipping is an additional $5.00 for the first CD, and $2 for each additional CD shipped with the same order. You can order online, using our secure PayPal links. If you don't have a PayPal account yet, sign up now using the link to the left, and you will get a $5 from PayPal for signing up. If you would prefer to send a check or money order by mail, drop me a line at... sales@vintageip.com and I will send you an order form that you can print out and mail in. 
Return to the VIP Records Home Page To subscribe to the VIP Records email list, send a message to... recordslist@vintageip.com  This page is maintained by Stephen Worth. Its contents are copyrighted and may not be duplicated or redistributed in any manner without the prior written consent of the authors.
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