Wagner Overtures and Preludes (Live)

Probably no composer has oriented his work so consistently to the opera as Richard Wagner. His works are among the most performed in the world and the overtures of his operas are very famous orchestral pieces. With this recording, Frankfurt Radio Symphony presents under chief conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada the most famous overtures and preludes by Richard Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer marks a first decisive step on Wagner's journey to being the most innovative and influential music dramatist of the 19th century. This was the first time that Wagner found the motifs and themes that he was to make quintessentially his own: the longing for death, a woman's willingness to sacrifice her own life out of compassion, the hero as restless outsider, death resulting from love and the idea of redemption. The prelude to the romantic opera Lohengrin is a particularly impressive example of Wagner's innovative handling of the opportunities afforded by the symphonic resources. In Tristan und Isolde, Wagner realized the aim with unparalleled rigour to turn his orchestra into a protagonist in the action of the drama. His ability to use musical and especially orchestral resources to hint at multilayered psychological processes and emotions proved a sensation with his contemporaries and ensured that Tristan und Isolde became one of the most influential works of music of the entire nineteenth century. Early on, Wagner had the idea to combine the prelude with the last scene of the opera, "Isoldes Liebestod" (which he called "Isolde's Transfiguration") in a purely instrumental version, from which he excised the vocal line. To this day, this coupling is one of the pieces by Wagner most frequently encountered in the concert hall and is also heard in this recording. The prelude to Parsifal, which Wagner called a "festival drama for consecrating a stage", shows the composers artistic maturity after a lifelong creative and development process. The album ends with the overture to Wagner's great romantic opera Tannhäuser and the Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, which is probably the most popular among Wagner's orchestral pieces.