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Entry: Right From the Beginning Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/right_from_the_beginning#22799 Post contents: @Richard, I, too, am something of a Wagnerian, and was privileged to see a Ring Cycle in Europe when I was a student there. I've been collecting Wagner since I was in high school. I am not much of a fan of Klemperer--he reminds me of impenetrable granite too often! Actually,I do like Kna' in some things---his Bayreuth PARSIFALs are legendary, in particular the first one from "Neue Bayreuth after the war, then the 1962 and the '64, with Jon Vickers as Parsifal. Also, his 1956 Bayreuth Ring, available on both Orfeo and Music & Arts (and I think Melodram),is worth listening to. Kna' was not good at all in the studio--inattentive and bored (and boring), but live he could be fascinating and inspirational. I also enjoy Rudolf Kempe, Joseph Keilberth, Karl Bohm, and Clemens Krauss in Wagner---I suppose you've seen (and/or heard)the 1955 stereo Ring Cycle under Keiberth, recorded by Decca, and just released by Testament? Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde) is not Flagstad, but she is wonderful, as is her Siegfried, the much-lamented Wolfgang Windgassen, who qualifies as a worthy successor to Melchior. [I must admit that I have two dozen complete Ring cycles on disc, not to mention dozens of LOHENGRINS, TRISTANS, etc.] As to Furtwangler, I always jump to his defense when the subject of him staying in Germany during the 1930s-40s comes us. His staunchest defender was Yehudi Menuhin who harshly criticized those who took pot-shots a WF from their comfortable perchs on this side of the Atlantic. Indeed, WF saved the lives and livelihoods of dozens of musicians and artists trapped in the Third Reich, including Szymon Goldberg and Issay Debrowen. There have been several excellent and in-depth studies of Furtwangler which I can recommend. He stuck his neck out on numerous occasions (to Goering, Goebbels, and Culture Minister Bernard Rust), and accomplished more than a dozen artists in exile could ever do... As to Bruckner, I was exposed to him in high school, and at first he seemed like a bottomless pit of sound. Since then, I've come to consider him the greatest symphonist since Beethoven. His profound spiriutality and his familiarity with the organ deeply influence his music. I've got film/video of Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache, Gunter Wand, and others conducting his music...mesmerizing. Sent at: 2008 11 23