the soundtrack to the Ring of the Nibelung

This CD is the possibility of 70 minutes in the "Ring World" to be able to get a taste of Wagner without having to indulge in the many hours of opera in the domestic environment the same. Lorin Maazel has this orchestral passages of the Ring tetralogy provided with (from the opera material derived) transitions so that a homogeneous plant is being built. The whole thing seems to me to have succeeded, and I do not feel when listening to a cobbled together medleys or a jaded rapid passage, even if the music - comparable to a soundtrack - not the dramaturgy of an original clay has. It is clear that Wagner, measures to deal with the orchestra, a (seducing) sound magician was; but also the wood-pathetic manifests itself as a counterpoint.

The sound quality of the CD (Recorded 1988) is good; if this recording sound has reference character, is mainly a matter of taste with respect to the overall sound's preferred image. The recording sets a priority on transparency than on plump Klangschwulst. The view of the orchestra is here the higher of a series and the tonality is overall rather on the lean side. Above all, the strings are (Telarc-typical) gracile than captured with other recordings.