S. Wagner: An Allem ist Hutchen schuld

[Alan Howe]

I am currently listening to the Schellenberger/cpo CD containing the extract from Der Schmied von Marienburg, which is truly lovely, I must admit. Does it compare it, however, with the best of Richard Wagner - say, the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde? Er, no. Not by a long chalk. For one thing, lovely though SW's music is, it does rather meander; by contrast his father's music has forward flow and an utterly memorable melody. I would feel more sympathetic to Siegfried's works if comparisons with his father's music were avoided.

The Schellenberger CD is without doubt the best possible advertisement for SW's music. For once, bleeding chunks work really well. Thanks to gene schiller for recommending this and the Roman Trekel CD (which I have yet to sample).

[Alan Howe]

Much the same can be said of the Trekel CD which is a very fine compendium of SW's 'best bits'. The problem I have is not with these purple passages, but with the music in between. Nevertheless, as I said with regard to the Schellenberger CD, these 'bleeding chunks' would seem to be the best way of enjoying music whose overall level falls some way below that on these two CDs. It's the writing for voices between these purple passages that I find ungrateful and, frankly, tiresome.

By the way, it helps that these two CDs feature a first-class orchestra, well conducted. They are a pleasure to listen to in themselves.

[gene schiller]

I just received my copy of "An Allem ist Hutchen Schuld" from Premiere Opera. Italy, and it's a beauty.  A fine recording with  lush, luminous textures, it's worthwhile for the orchestral performance alone. It's well sung too, and overall should give you a good impression of the score. Wagner-lite? Whatever. There's many a magical moment here....but hearing is believing.  Experience for yourself!