Wagnermania

The return of the original Ring lord

My name is Gert and I am a Wagnermaniac...

The scene at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday was unforgettable...it was a symptom of a wave of Wagnermania that has mounted steadily in the UK over the past couple of years... Vladimir Jurowski suggests that Wagner is filling a cultural void. "I think it's symptomatic of our times that we want to seek out something that takes place on a massive scale, while our lives are reduced to the size of a microchip. People have an unconscious need to experience something larger than life, something of huge emotional force, when it's not possible in daily existence...Wagner is also extremely erotic - and again people can find in his music a substitute for what they miss in their own lives...As Bryn Terfel says: "Wagner seems to have a quality that draws people in; and once you've encountered it, it's very difficult to let it go again."...

...What remains is Wagner's power. Attended with an open mind and open ears, he takes no prisoners. Once you enter his musical world, he's got you for ever. And as more people succumb to the Wagner magic, perhaps it's true that he provides the antithesis of modern life: a universe of meaning and beauty and intellect, so absent from the world around us. Like him or loathe him, we seem to need him.

And by beautifuly synchronicity and serendipity I have just discovered the blog of the author of this piece Jessica Duchen's classical music blog

Her entry regarding Monday night's Prom...

I regret to say I didn't hear it - because I was backstage, interviewing Domingo during Act III once his role was over!!!! :-)))

He's LOVELY...

I am green with envy because everyone I know who was at that Prom says that it was the best thing they have EVER heard - and we're talking record company people and professional musicians here...