The Bruckner Thread

Dear Adam.

I just ordered it... Will you make a Wagner fan out of me?? This forum is really corruptive.

 

Rodrigo
I look forward to finding out. Bearing in mind your earlier quote about Wagner being bad for the soul, I suspect that you will find Parsifal confirms your fears, as it's definitely a bit of a love song to suffering. I think there is something deeply significant in the importance of Good Friday to the work- Wagner seems to have been far more interested in the dying-on-the-cross part of Christianity, as opposed to the rising-on-the-third-day.
Since you obviously have a pretty deep technical knowledge you may be interested to read the ENO guide http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parsifal-En...r_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200064027&sr=1-18 , which I found very interesting (if a bit over my head). It has a libretto, which the cheap 4 CD set I mentioned doesn't. There are large narrative passages where you really have to know the words they are singing to make any sense of it.
There is a lot to be said for skipping the interminable Gurmenantz monologue first time round and going straight from the Vorspiel to entrance of Parsifal, or even the transformation music on cd 2.

I also found http://home.c2i.net/monsalvat/motiftop.htm
very interesting.

At the moment I am paddling in the comparative shallows of Mahler 1 (Tennstedt.)
Good luck

 

Dear Adam

Thanks for the links (I ordered the book) and the link. And also for the warning! Well, I have nothing against suffering, and I do not really need a happy ending. But that said, I fear a little I will love it too much. As a matter of fact, that has always been my problem with Wagner... I fear I may be trapped into his music.

But yesterday I was thinking about the merits of simple melodies and comparing them to 'deep' music (a CD with Schmeltzer music brought this). And, by a tortuous process, I remembered how you can have both and be profound, melodic, desperate and, at the same time, crystal like: I played, in my mind, bits of the a minor fugue from Bach, BWV 904b.

So if I begin to mention this particular fugue, that will mean I am getting hooked on Wagner. If so, my family will be instructed to suggest you pay the hospital bill

Many thanks.

 

If you feel that all the peering into the abyss is getting you down, then I think a little Bach is going to be the best solution. Incidentally (and I know this is really the wrong thread for this) I came upon the following quote from Sviatoslav Richter
"It does no harm to listen to Bach from time to time, even if only from a hygienic standpoint."

I wonder whther he had the Wagner-purgative effects of Bach in mind, as he was apparently a great fan of W as well as a noted player of B.

In order to drag this back to topic I will leave it at saying that I look forward to your views on the degree of influence Parsifal had on Bruckner.

 

I'll report. I did not receive the record yet.