The Wagner CD from Amazon is delivered. Not whole operas because, frankly, I wouldn’t know what to look for and I don’t know yet if I could sit through an entire Wagner opera (although I was suprisingly glued to the tv last Christmas when Bryn Terfel was singing as Wotan).
First up, the Siegfried Funeral March from Götterdämmerung, which is what I’d been waiting to hear. Then hurriedly on to the long, impossibly romantic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. Playing now, Helen’s favourite so far, the Overture from Tannhäuser.
I suppose it’s vulgar to discover Wagner so late and then only play Wagner’s Top Tunes or whatever but, but, but - it must be better than never hearing, enjoying, being stopped in your tracks by such wonderful music.
I know next to nothing about composition. I do know a little of Wagner’s reputation, influence, the regard in which he’s held. I know I’m supposed to be impressed, something that’s made me less keen to explore his work than I might otherwise have been. And now at long last I’m really enjoying the music, which is what it’s all about.
