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From: asente@decwrl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Wagner on disc
Message-ID: <7754@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-May-84 04:42:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.7754
Posted: Tue May  8 04:42:24 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 9-May-84 08:00:30 EDT
References: <4130@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab, Los Altos, CA
Lines: 18

I would recommend Deryck Cooke's "An Introduction to Wagner's Ring," on
the London label (catalog number RDN S-1).  Although a little
pretentious at times, it presents all the major themes in the work and
describes how they relate to each other.  Before I heard this, I too
found the Ring rather unaccessible, but it has since become one of my
favorite works.  It really helps a lot to be able to notice that while
a character is talking about A he really means B because the B theme
can be heard in the orchestra at the time, or to trace out the
development of ideas that is paralled by the development of their
themes.  Often before something important happens, the events that lead
up to it and that cause it to happen are accompanied by music that
eventually develops into a theme directly concerning the event.

[San Francisco Opera is performing Siegfried this summer!!!  I can
hardly wait!]

	-paul asente
	    (decvax, ucbvax, ihnp4, ...)!decwrl!asente