Richard Wagner - Das Rheingold

"Wagner’s tetralogy, 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' ('The Ring of the Nibelung') was first performed as a whole in August 1876 at the new Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. The complete cycle consists of a Prologue, 'Das Rheingold' ('The Rhinegold'), followed the next day by 'Die Walküre' ('The Valkyrie'), and then by 'Siegfried', leading up to the final 'Götterdämmerung' ('Twilight of the Gods'). The texts had been completed byWagner by 1853 and the completion of the music and performance of the whole cycle in a specially created operahouse of novel design represented a summit of creative achievement, the apotheosis of German art. Leading motifs associated with characters, events and ideas in the drama, recur, interwoven to unify the whole conception.

"The sources of the drama were found in Icelandic sagas, the thirteenth-century Middle High German 'Das Nibelungenlied' and the Old Norse 'Thidreks Saga af Bern', but Wagner had recourse to a wide range of other reading, while the structure of the tetralogy and the underlying theme of the curse owes a strong debt to Aeschylus and Greek tragedy. The music of 'Das Rheingold' was completed in 1854 and follows the principles Wagner had laid down in his treatise of 1851, Opera and Drama, principles that he was to follow less rigidly in later works. In his text he made use of a form of Stabreim, the Old High German alliterative verse, familiar to English readers from early English texts. The orchestration of 'Das Rheingold' uses quadruple upper woodwind, three bassoons, eight horns, four tubas, with contra bass tuba, quadruple trumpets and trombones, a percussion section that includes an array of anvils for the Nibelungs, six harps, with a seventh on stage, and a large string section. The score was published in 1864, with a fulsome dedication to dem königlichen Freunde (the royal friend), King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and the work was first performed at the Court and National Theatre in Munich in 1869. Wagner used the occasion to intrigue, from his villa at Triebschen in Switzerland, in order to defeat his Munich opponents in the theatre administration, hoping to be recalled to save a performance from which his protégé, the young Hans Richter, had, on Wagner’s instructions, withdrawn, after the expected problems with the complicated stage machinery involved. In the event the work, on the orders of King Ludwig, who was losing patience, went ahead and was given a successful performance under another conductor." (Keith Anderson. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden, Matthias Goerne, Michelle DeYoung

1.1. Vorspiel
1.2. Szene I: 'Weia! Waga! Woge, Du Welle!'
1.3. Szene I: 'Hehe! Ihr Nicker!'
1.4. Szene I: 'Garstig Glatter Glitschiger Glimmer!'
1.5. Szene I: 'Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin Lacht In Den Grund'
1.6. Szene I: 'Nur Wer Der Minne Macht Entsagt'
1.7. Szene I: 'Der Welt Erbe Gewann' Ich Zu Eigen Durch Dich'
1.8. Szene I: 'Haltet Den Räuber!'
1.9. Szene II: Einleitung
1.10. Szene II: 'Wotan! Gemahl! Erwache!'
1.11. Szene II: 'So Schirme Sie Jetzt'
1.12. Szene II: 'Sanft Schloss Schlaf Dein Aug'!'
1.13. Szene II: 'Was Sagst Du Ha! Sinnst Du Verrath'
1.14. Szene II: 'Du Da, Folge Uns Fort!'
1.15. Szene II: 'Endlich Loge! Eiltest Du So'
1.16. Szene II: 'Immer Ist Undank Loges Lohn!'
1.17. Szene II: 'Ein Runenzauber Zwingt Das Gold Zum Reif'
1.18. Szene II: 'Hör', Wotan, Der Harrenden Wort!'
1.19. Szene II: 'Schwester! Brüder! Rettet!'
1.20. Szene II: 'Wotan, Gemahl, Unsel'ger Mann'
1.21. Szene III: Verwandlungsmusik
1.22. Szene III: 'Hehe! Hehe! Hieher! Hieher! Tückischer Zwerg!'

2.1. Szene III: 'Schau, Du Schelm!'
2.2. Szene III: 'Nibelheim Hier: Durch Bleiche Nebel'
2.3. Szene III: 'Nehmt Euch In Acht! Alberich Naht'
2.4. Szene III: 'Die In Linder Lüfte Weh'n Da Oben Ihr Lebt'
2.5. Szene III: 'Ohe! Ohe! Schreckliche Schlange'
2.6. Szene III: 'Dort, Die Kröte, Greife Sie Rasch!'
2.7. Szene IV: 'Da, Vetter, Sitze Du Fest!'
2.8. Szene IV: 'Wohlan, Die Nibelungen Rief Ich Mir Nah''
2.9. Szene IV: 'Gezahlt Hab' Ich; Nun Laßt Mich Zieh'n!'
2.10. Szene IV: 'Ist Er Gelöst'
2.11. Szene IV: 'Lauschtest Du Seinem Liebesgruß'
2.12. Szene IV: 'Lieblichste Schwester, Süsseste Lust!'
2.13. Szene IV: 'Gepflanzt Sind Die Pfähle Nach Pfandes Maß'
2.14. Szene IV: 'Weiche, Wotan, Weiche! Flieh' Des Ringes Fluch!'
2.15. Szene IV: 'Soll Ich Sorgen Und Fürchten'
2.16. Szene IV: 'Halt, Du Gieriger! Gönne Mir Auch Was!'
2.17. Szene IV: 'Nun Blinzle Nach Freias Blick!'
2.18. Szene IV: 'Heda! Heda! Hedo! Zu Mir, Du Geduft!'
2.19. Szene IV: 'Bruder, Hieher! Weise Der Brücke Den Weg!'
2.20. Szene IV: 'Abendlich Strahlt Der Sonne Auge'
2.21. Szene IV: 'So Grüss' Ich Die Burg'
2.22. Szene IV: 'Rheingold! Rheingold! Reines Gold!'

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Othmar Schoeck - Penthesilea

"He was a quiet artist, a composer who consciously chose to avoid styles and schools. Is the time perhaps now ripe for us to appreciate him not only as a 'pioneer' who set out in completely new directions but also as a 'perfecter'? 

"By 'we' I mean the third generation of music lovers no longer completely under the spell of the Second Viennese School, we who no longer as our fathers — often at the risk of life and liberty — have to contend for Schönberg and his circle, who can finally utter names like Zemlinsky, Schreker, Busoni, Korngold or Schoeck without fear of ridicule, as was the case just ten or twenty years ago. Nothing is more cruel than time: it enshrouds the past. Yet nothing is more just: it allows us to rediscover, to hear and see anew; it turns victory to defeat and corrects misunderstandings. 

"How many of these misunderstandings must be corrected? It would suffice to correct just one — namely, that except for 'Elektra', 'Erwarning', and 'Wozzeck', only second-rate works were composed. He certainly didn't make it easy for us, the 'minor Swiss Lieder composer' Schoeck. Why did he choose Kleist of all people? And why his grimmest work, 'Penthesilea'? Why the bizarre instrumentation: only four solo violins, but a disproportionate number of violas, cellos and double-basses; no harps, instead two pianos, no bassoons, only a bass bassoon, but ten (!) clarinets, four trumpets in the orchestra and three much-used trumpets on stage. A devil's advocate would identify one particular sore spot for the performers: the demands placed on the singers who must move from the sung to the spoken word, and not to dialogue à la 'Fidelio', but to the most demanding Kleist verse — a challenge for even the best stage actors. 

"If I may reply as Schoeck's advocate: Could a director or dramaturge have edited the work more expertly for the stage than Schoeck has? Who could not succumb, after repeated listening, to the austere, yet expressive sound of the orchestra. And on the transition from the sung to the spoken word, Schoeck's friend Hermann Hesse observed that 'throughout the work, with an almost frightening confidence, the finger is placed on the centre, on that point where the experience of the poem converges on a single word or on the vibrations between the words'. Again and again we are confronted — and estranged — by how much more conservative musicians are than writers or artists. There they sit on the treasure of the 'time-proven' and 'familiar', like Fafner guarding the Rheingold. The time has come to add the gold piece 'Penthesilea' to the hoard." (Gerd Albrecht, tr. Lionel Salter. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Symphonieorchester und Chor des ORF, Gerd Albrecht, Helga Dernesch, Jane Marsh, Marjana Lipovšek, Theo Adam

1. 'Was Gilt's? Dort Naht Die Unheilkunde Schon'
2. 'Hetzt Alle Hund' Auf Ihn!'
3. 'Hier, Meine Wackeren Aetolier, Heran!'
4. 'Der Weicht, Ein Schatten, Vom Platz'
5. 'Sie Lebt Nicht Mehr'
6. 'Penthesilea! O Du Träumerin'
7. 'Er Wär' Gefangen Mir?'
8. 'Komm Jetzt, Du Süßer Nereidensohn'
9. 'Wir Treten Jetzt Die Reise Gleich Nach Themiscyra An'
10. 'Argiver Nah'n, Erhebt Euch!'
11. 'Triumph, Triumph!'
12. 'Ein Herold Naht Dir, Königin'
13. 'Ha! Stellt Sie Sich?'
14. 'Entsetzen! O Entsetzen!'
15. Trauermarsch/'Seht! Seht Ihr Frau'n'
16. 'Ach, Prothoe'
17. 'Was Brütet Sie, Die Schreckliche, Wohl Jetzt?'

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Richard Strauss / Richard Wagner / Charles Gounod - Recital

"Montserrat Caballé's career, which began with a legendary lucky break, would eventually make her one of Spain's greatest sopranos -- equaled in status and reputation only by fellow Barcelonian Victoria de los Angeles.

"Her full birth name was Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folch. She was named after the famous Catalan monastery of Montserrat. It is said that her parents feared that they would lose her and vowed that if she were born alive and well they would christen her with the monastery's name. She learned singing at her convent school; at the age of eight, she entered the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona. Her most important teachers were Eugenia Kenny, Conchita Badea, and Napoleone Annovazzi. When she graduated in 1954, she won the Liceo's Gold Medal.

"Caballé made her professional debut in Madrid in the oratorio El pesebre (The Manger) by the great Catalan cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals. She then went to Italy, where she received a few minor roles at various houses. In 1956, she joined the Basel Opera; she was working her way through the smaller roles when one of the principal singers took ill and she took over the role of Mimì in Puccini's 'La Bohéme.' Her unqualified success in that part led to promotion to starring roles, including Pamina ('The Magic Flute'), Puccini's 'Tosca', Verdi's 'Aïda', Marta in Eugene d'Albert's 'Tiefland', and the Richard Strauss roles of Arabella, Chrysothemis ('Elektra'), and Salome. She steadily gained a European reputation, singing in Bremen, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, and Lisbon, taking such diverse roles as Violetta ('La Traviata'), Tatiana ('Yevgeny Onegin'), Dvorák's 'Armida' and 'Rusalka,' and Marie in Berg's 'Wozzeck.' She debuted at La Scala in 1960 as a Flower Maiden in 'Parsifal.' She sang in Mexico City in 1964 as Massenet's 'Manon.'

"In April 20, 1965, on extremely short notice, she substituted for the indisposed Marilyn Horne in a concert performance in Donizetti's 'Lucrezia Borgia', achieving a thunderous success and "overnight" superstardom. She became one of the leading figures in the revival of interest in the bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti, many of which were staged especially for her. Caballé's performances as Elizabeth I ('Roberto Devereux') and that monarch's rival Mary Queen of Scots ('Maria Stuarda') are legendary. In 1971, she sang a memorable concert performance of 'Maria Stuarda' in which her fellow Barcelonian José Carreras made his London debut, and after that she helped advance his career. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1965 as Marguerite in 'Faust.' Caballé's career centered around Verdi's important dramatic roles, but also embraced the Marschallin ('Der Rosenkavalier'), the Countess ('Marriage of Figaro'), and Queen Isabella (in the premiere of Leonardo Balada's 'Cristobál Colón' in Barcelona in 1989)." (Biography by Joseph Stephenson for AllMusic. Available in full here.)

Performers: Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Alain Lombard, Montserrat Caballé

1. Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder: Frühling
2. Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder: September
3. Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder: Beim Schlafengehen
4. Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder: Im Abendrot
5. Richard Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde: Isoldes Tod
6. Richard Wagner - Tannhäuser: 'Froh Grüß'ich Dich, Geliebter Raum!'
7. Richard Wagner - Tannhäuser: 'Almächt'ge Jungfrau-hör Mein Flehen!'
8. Charles Gounod - Faust: 'Il Était Un Roi De Thulé'
9. Charles Gounod - Faust: Récitatif
10. Charles Gounod - Faust: 'Ah! Je Ris De Me Voir Si Belle'

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Joni Mitchell - Mingus

Recorded in 1979 with a sensational jazz fusion lineup including Jaco Pastorius, Wayner Shorter and Herbie Hancock, this is Mitchell's epitaph for the bassist and bandleader. Throughout are home recordings ('raps'), provided by Mingus's wife, which add a sense of intimacy with the album's subject. Mitchell herself is in excellent form; her cool, languid vocals and lyrics spreading a fine match of humour and cerebral reflection over the often otherworldly backing of the other musicians. Mingus lived to hear every song here except "God Must Be a Boogie Man", and it's certain he approved of this send-off. While the shadow of mortality looms large over this music, it is also a deeply personal celebration of a great man's life.

Performers: Joni Mitchell (gt, vo), Wayne Shorter (s-sx), Herbie Hancock (e-pi), Jaco Pastorius (e-bs), Peter Erskine (dr), Don Alias (cg), Emil Richards (pc)

1. Happy Birthday 1975 (Rap)
2. God Must Be A Boogie Man
3. Funeral (Rap)
4. A Chair In The Sky
5. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
6. I's A Muggin' (Rap)
7. Sweet Sucker Dance
8. Coin In The Pocket (Rap)
9. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
10. Lucky (Rap)
11. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

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Yusef Lateef - Roots Run Deep

Recorded in 2004 and released the year before his death in 2013, 'Roots Run Deep' is an incredibly intimate and haunting collection of music and spoken word, one that is a rare insight into the thoughts of a man with a unique connection to the American musical tradition. The impression is that we are allowed into Lateef's innermost thoughts: whether the fascinatingly jocular musings on 'Cream Puff' or the haunting vocals and lyricism of the theme 'Roots Run Deep'. As the final generation most deeply connected to this music passes on, this look inside the mind of an American musical giant is welcome and to be treasured. Lateef pines on 'Interior Monologue': "There is no escape. Death will overtake us all some day."

Performer: Yusef Lateef (t-sx, fl, pi, vo)

1. Roots Run Deep I
2. Cream Puff
3. Where Is Lester?
4. Motherless Child
5. Goodbye
6. Interior Monologue
7. Roots Run Deep II

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Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

Scott-Heron's swan song. This was his first recording in thirteen years, and would be his last. There is a stunning immediacy here, as if the man was in some remote way conscious of death's shadow as he recalls his upbringing and lays down a stirring hip-hop rendition of Robert Johnson's 'Me and the Devil'. An excellent comparison would be Yusef Lateef's 'Roots Run Deep', also a collection of spoken and musical material that sounds startlingly fresh and modern, but also possesses a sense of the lingering finality of death. Joni Mitchell's 'Mingus' also comes to mind, for similar reasons. Backing Scott-Heron's husky, wisened vocals is an excellent mixture of urbane contemporary production provided by XL Recordings chief Richard Russell. Interestingly, this album now has two remixed releases: Jamie xx's even more modern 'We're New Here' and Makaya McCraven's 'We're New Again', which has a more nostalgic vintage feel. Both speak to the continuing relevance of this album (and Scott-Heron himself) in contemporary music.

1. On Coming From A Broken Home (Part 1)
2. Me And The Devil
3. I'm New Here
4. Your Soul And Mine
5. Parents (Interlude)
6. Ill Take Care Of You
7. Being Blessed (Interlude)
8. Where Did The Night Go
9. I Was Guided (Interlude)
10. New York Is Killing Me
11. Certain Things (Interlude)
12. Running
13. The Crutch
14. I've Been Me (Interlude)
15. On Coming From A Broken Home (Part 2)

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Bill Evans - Explorations

"Explorations was recorded at a point when Evans was still dividing time between his own band and various sessions for others. But what sessions: through the winter of ’60-’61, he was called on to contribute to now classic albums like 'The Great Kai & J.J.' and 'The Kai Winding Trombone Choir', and Oliver Nelson’s groundbreaking exercise in substitute harmony, 'Blues and The Abstract Truth'—all three for Creed Taylor’s Impulse Records. For Riverside, Evans’s home label, he appeared on Cannonball Adderley’s 'Know What I Mean?'—the pianist’s 'moody delicacy' a focal point on a reunion of two members of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue sextet that, on the title track, revisited modal territory.

"Though Evans underplayed his own flexibility ('I think it was a good thing I didn’t have a great aptitude for mimicry [...] because I had to build my own musical style,' he commented in 1960), he proved his ability to step outside his own style and ably handle a wide, musical range—especially on the Johnson-Winding album. But when it came to his own group, Evans’s sound and approach was his own by '61. His piano style had fully matured, as had the interplay of the trio. The road had helped. Evans had kept up a steady flow of work in and outside of New York City through the previous year. Upon entering Bell Sound’s studio on February 2, 1961, producer Orrin Keepnews immediately noted the three had 'made giant strides towards the goal of becoming a three-voice unit rather than a piano player and his accompanists [...] [Bill’s] interweaving with Scotty and the freedom this truly unusual bassist was afforded were very much up front.'

"Despite a couple of troublesome issues—a simmering argument between Evans and LaFaro, a lingering headache bothering Evans—the date went smoothly. The choice of material was typical of the pianist. He liked to balance old and new, with an 'emphasis on the reworking of standard tunes,' Keepnews recalls.

"Evans revived a few ballads that many might have dismissed as overplayed or trite—'How Deep Is the Ocean?,' 'Sweet and Lovely'—revealing new harmonic and emotional possibilities in their oft-played themes. He favored vocal numbers popular during his teens and twenties—like 'The Boy Next Door' and 'Beautiful Love'—and introduced a melody not yet part of the modern jazz canon: 'Haunted Heart.' He also turned to tunes from his personal circle, including Earl Zindars’s 'Elsa' (which he also brought to Adderley’s 'Know What I Mean?' project), Miles Davis’s 'Nardis' (originally recorded on Adderley’s Riverside debut in 1958), and John Carisi’s blues number 'Israel' (covered by Davis’s legendary 'Birth of the Cool' ensemble in 1949.)

"Looking back, Keepnews marvels at 'the relaxed pace that predominates here. 'The performances do, as a whole, share a laid-back energy, yet closer inspection reveals the approach to tempo to be subtly varied, often within the same performance. Energy rises and ebbs throughout. Motian crackles and with the deliberative feel of a painter’s strokes, defines both swing and structure. Evans reveals his growing reliance on, and adept use of block chords. Check out how LaFaro subtly shifts the mood when he steps forward on 'Beautiful Love,' or shares the wheel with Evans on the giddily upbeat 'Sweet and Lovely.' Or his extended solo on 'Nardis,' an exemplar of full-range flexibility on bass—then check his long, legato notes that support Evans’s ensuing statement.

"Other tracks merit repeated listening: The refined bebop flavor and hip contours of 'Israel'; small surprise it was chosen to open the album. The slowly unveiled melody of 'Haunted Heart,' dazzling in its simplicity as Evans feels his way through it, avoiding needless embellishment or sentimentality. The way he jumps into his own inventions right at the start of 'How Deep Is The Ocean?,' getting around to clearly stating the melody at the end.

"Keepnews recalls that 'Evans was full of openly expressed negative feelings during the date,' and admits 'I felt equally negative [...] Although I kept insisting that the music sounded just fine, that was mostly pep talk.' Weeks later, when the two sat down to playback the tracks and plan the album, 'we were equally surprised when later listening proved my words to have been accurate,' Keepnews adds." (Ashley Kahn. From the liner notes to the 2011 OJC reissue.)

Performers: Bill Evans (pi), Scott LaFaro (bs), Paul Motian (dr)

1. Israel
2. Haunted Heart
3. Beautiful Love
4. Elsa
5. Nardis
6. How Deep Is The Ocean
7. I Wish I Knew
8. Sweet And Lovely

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