Columbia K StereoJl

MS 7291

MASTERWORKS

Great Orchestral Highlights from the Ring of the Nibelungs

The Cleveland Orchestra Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Funeral Music, Entrance of the Gods, Ride of the Valkyries, Magic Fire Music, and others

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Produced by Andrew Kazdin

WAGNER: GREAT ORCHESTRAL HIGHLIGHTS

from "THE RING OF THE NIBELUNGS"

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

GEORGE SZELL, Conductor

Side 1

ENTRANCE OF THE GODS INTO VALHALLA

from "DAS RHEINGOLD" (6:33)

THE RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES

from "DIE WALKÜRE" (5=23)

MAGIC FIRE MUSIC from "DIE WALKÜRE" (4:«)

FOREST MURMURS from "SIEGFRIED" (6:53)

Side 2

I— DAWN and SIEGFRIEDE RHINE JOURNEY

from "GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG" (12=01)

II— SIEGFRIEDE FUNERAL MUSIC and FINAL SCENE

from "GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG" pi-.ii)

The selections are in the public domain.

"The whole poem sets forth the necessity of recognizing and

yielding to the changeable, the many-faceted, the multiplicity,

the eternal renewing of reality and of life. . . . This is the lesson

that we must learn from the history of mankind—to will what

necessity imposes, and, thus, ourselves, to bring it about. . . .

In the person of Siegfried, I have sought to represent the per¬

fect human being whose highest intelligence acknowledges

that all consciousness must find its expression in present life

and action."

Such was Richard Wagner's own highly over-simplified

explanation in 1854 of his dramatization of some of the sagas

of Germanic, Scandinavian and Icelandic tradition that he was

to develop into the musical tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen

(The Ring of the Nibelungs). Out of this mythic world of

dwarfs, giants, gods, warrior-maidens and super-heros,

Wagner was to construct a musical drama that would tran-

scend the sum of its parts to achieve his ambition of a Gesamt¬

kunstwerk, a total art work. Four massive operas would issue

from his pen during the years 1853 to 1874—operas like no

others by any composer in any period of musical history. Four

stories were to be told musically and dramatically in a way

that would see each linked to the other but each capable

of standing on its own as a separate work. Ideally, each would

be performed in sequence in what would amount to an

operatic marathon. Only the genius that was Richard Wagner

could conceive, and carry through, such a complicated project.

Wagner began work on The Ring cycle in 1848 by writing

a dramatic poem called Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfriede Death).

When it was finished, he decided that it needed prefatory ex¬

planation and so produced Junge Siegfried (Young Siegfried),

which later became, simply, Siegfried. This, in turn, also

needed clarification, so two more dramas ensued. Die Walküre

(The Valkyries) and Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold). Eventu-

ally, Siegfrieds Tod metamorphosed into the cycle's climactic

opera, Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods). But,

although he wrote his dramas in reverse Order, Wagner com-

posed their musical settings in correct narrative Order.

The story line that finally evolved is so complicated that

it defies any brief synopsis. The four operas trace the effect

of a curse that falls upon gods and mortals alike when the

magic gold of the Rhine is stolen by a mortal described by

Wagner as "he who is willing to renounce love forever."

The sacred gold is finally returned to the care of the Rhine

maidens through "The Redemption of Love" of Siegfried and

Brünnhilde.

In the twenty-six years that passed between the beginning

of "Siegfried's Death" and the finishing of Götterdämmerung,

Wagner underwent many political and philosophical changes

of heart, many of them reflected in The Ring operas and many

a source of controversy during his lifetime. Today, of course,

these same "controversial" elements seem more to lessen the

dramatic effectiveness of The Ring rather than to deepen it

philosophically. But The Ring has survived all the discussion

that it first provoked and even misguided 20th-century

efförts to elevate it to the Status of political doctrine. It sur-

vives on the operatic stage not as the model of dramatic ideal-

ism that Wagner intended but as a triumphant musical experi-

ence, eloquent and powerful. Paradoxically, the four music

dramas of The Ring are perhaps best known today for the

hours of magnificent orchestral music that can be drawn from

them for presentation in the concert hall.

The selections in this album follow the sequence of the

operas in narrative Order. The "Entrance of the Gods into

Valhalla" occurs at the end of Das Rheingold in a scene of

eloquence and beauty as the mighty god Wotan leads a

procession across the rainbow bridge into the home of the

gods, the castle of Valhalla. "The Ride of the Valkyries,"

is one of the best-known of all Wagner works. It opens the

third act of Die Walküre and depicts the exultant ride of the

warrior-maidens through stormy skies, bearing the bodies

of dead heroes into Valhalla. The "Magic Fire Music" accom-

panies the final scene in Die Walküre in which the Valkyrie

Brünnhilde, having broken Wotan's command, is put into

a charmed sleep and is surrounded by flames from which

only a fearless hero (Siegfried) can rescue her. "Forest Mur-

murs" is a lyrical episode from the second act of Siegfried in

which the young hero communes with nature, listening to the

calls of the birds, before learning of Brünnhilde's magic

sleep. "Dawn" and "Siegfried's Rhine Journey" are part of

the prologue to Act I of Götterdämmerung and are in marked

contrast to "Siegfried's Funeral Music" and the final scene

from Götterdämmerung that depict the death of the hero and

Brünnhilde's decision to die with her beloved—thus destroy-

ing the curse of the ring and bringing to mankind a new

age of sublime human love.

Engineering: Edward T. Graham and John Guerriere

Library of Congress catalog card number 70-75018 applies to MS 7291.

Other Wagner albums by George Szell and the Cleveland

Orchestra: Wagner Showpieces . . . MS 6971

Szell Conducts Wagner . . . MS 6884

MS 7291 Columbia

MASTERWORKS

5

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KCS 9726

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Hits including:

Für Once In My Life The ShadowOf

Your Smile A Time For Love

Georgia Rose People

CS 9814

CHICAGO INCLUDING:

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GP 8

PERCYFAITH HIS C )RCHF„STRA AND CHORUS

TI lOSKWTRT/nii: DAYS including:

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CS 9762

JOHNNY MATHIS Those WeteThe Days

including: Those WereThe Days/Little Green Apples This Guy’s In Love With You/Light My Fire

Turn Around Look At Me

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including: V You've Made Me So Very Happy

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SEEMS SO LONG AGO, NANCY

CS 9767

Robert Goulet Both Sides Now

including: Those Were The Days/Cycies

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CS 9763

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YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN

WICHITA LINEMAN

FORONCE IN MY LIFE

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CS 9757

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Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring/A Mighty Fortress Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and more

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Walter Carlos with

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including: The Weight/The 59th Street Bridge Song Don’t Tnrow Your Love On Me So Strong

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KGP 6

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including: Both Sides Now

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Goodnight My Love

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including:

Lay Lady Lay

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MOORE AND DAMION -WE ARE-ONE,

ONE,ALLINONE.

including: Question Of Birth

Once-Touched By Flame

Everything Good Becomes More True

One, One,The Perfect Sum

Last Sweet Moments

CS 9787

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CS 9800

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CS 9755

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Try a üttle Tenderness

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including:

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I Wanna Be Around

CS 9822

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FEATURING: MR. SUN, MR. MOON/CINDERELLA SUNSHINE

PAUL REVERE &THE RAIDERS FEATURING MARK LINDSAY

including: WhereYou GoinGirl/Call On Me/WithoutYou

CS 9753

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Mistreater

Backdoor

l'll Drown In My Tears

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AN EPIC OF SPACE FLIGHT IN 2038 A.D. ELECTRONIC AND CONCRETE EFFECTS BY SWEDISH RADIO

MS 7176

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«NS 2001A SPACE ODYSSEY FROM

WITH THE GREGG SMITH SINGERS ADDED ELECTRONIC EFFECTS BY MORTON SUBOTNICK

MS 7194 MS 7503

WAGNER: GREAT ORCHESTRAL HIGHLIGHTS

from "THE RING OF THE NIBELUNGS' THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

GEORGE SZELL, Conductor

SIDE 1 XSM 139863

1. ENTRANCE OF THE GODS INTO VALHALLA from

‘DAS RHEINGOLD"

2. THE RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES from "DIE WALKÜRE"

3. MAGIC FIRE MUSIC from "DIE WALKÜRE"

4. FOREST MURMURS from "SIEGFRIED''

>77*

WAGNER: GREAT ORCHESTRAL HIGHLIGHTS im "THE RING OE THE N1BELUNGS'

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA GEORGE SZELL, Conductor

SIDE 2 XSM 139864

DAWN and SIEGFRIEDE RHINE JOURNEY from

"GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG"

. SIEGFRIEDE FUNERAL MUSIC and FINAL SCEI

from "GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG"