Wagner: Symphony in C Netherlands Radio PO/Edo de Waart

Richard Wagner Symphony in C, Tristan und Isolde, Siegfried Idyll
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Artist: Edo de Waart, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Wagner
Genre: Classical
Label: Challenge Classics

Wagner tackled the composing of a symphony more than once, and at the end of his life revised the first of his efforts, which he had written in 1832 at the age of 19. IThe result is a curiosity, really, catching the composer in the process of absorbing lessons from Beethoven and Weber, flexing his youthful muscles effectively but without much individuality. Edo de Waart handles it more with sobriety than teenage joie-de-vivre, and does it no real service by coupling it with vintage Wagner, the Nachtgesang and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, arranged by Henk de Vlieger as an alternative pairing to the usual Prelude cum Liebestod, and a nicely gentle but somewhat inert account of the endless wonder of the Siegfried Idyll. challenge.nl

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor