Download Wagner on the piano

''Wagner on the piano''
- Wagner/Liszt: ''Elsa's Brautzug zum Munster'' S445/R278: No.2
- Wagner/Brassin: Walkurenritt
- Wagner/Stradal: Verwandlungsmusik from Parsifal
-Wagner/Stradal: Charfreitagszauber from Parsifal
- Wagner/Busoni: Trauermarsch from Götterdämmerung
------------------------------- Wagner: Elegie in As-dur
- Wagner: Porazzi theme
- Wagner/Moussault: I Cigno di Palermo: A path to Wagner's Porazzi theme
-Wagner/Kocsis: Prelude from Tristan und Isolde
- Wagner/Liszt: Isoldes Liebestod ‘
This program displays Wagner’s genius in all it’s grandeur. From Lohengrin to Der Ring des
Nibelungen, from Tristan und Islode to Parsifal.
The word ‘transcription’ does not simply imply a transfer of music written for one
instrument to another, without specification. Mozart’s piano sonatas, for example,
originated not only from the sound world of the piano but also from a particular conception
of sound that goes beyond one particular instrument. Mozart often adapted his operatic
style to his piano works, and in so doing crossed the borders of what was considered
possible for the instrument. His and Bach’s styles of composing provide a clear argument in
favour of the idea that the majority of works composed for piano cannot be considered
purely as piano music. The reverse, however, is also true for transcriptions for the piano.
Given that Wagner composed at the piano, any transcription of his operatic works must of
necessity bear a close relationship to the original.
It is the elemental forces that make it impossible to compare Wagner with any other
operatic composer. He himself considered that Italian opera was too much concerned with
providing its audiences with an enjoyable product. Wagner broke with the old operatic
traditions and replaced them with a unified combination of visual art, music, drama, poetry
and emotion. Such a conception of sound also necessarily surpasses the operatic medium
itself; this throws yet another light on the idea of transcription and of the Romantic operatic
paraphrase in particular.