Not an album to play over-and again, and not really one to put onto mp3-player, but nevertheless a bloody good record. There is humour throughout but the absolutely classic track is Ring Of The Nibelungs.
Ring Of The Nibelungs? you ask. Hasn't someone else done this already?
Funny you should say this. Wagner. Wagner's version takes 14 CDs and requires an orchestra of over a hundred, and cast of dozens, but Anna does it in 21 minutes and 40 seconds, just her and a piano. I'm not making this up, you know. Those who know the Ring enjoy it because it's absolutely spot on. And funny.
But it's also extraordinarily informative. If you don't really know the Ring, or kind of know it, but get confused, this is an easy twenty minutes crammer. Reportedly, it's used on university courses as introduction to the Ring.
On Easter Monday Radio 3 is broadcasting an entire Ring Cycle (Barenboim from Bayreuth in 1993) but for me, I shall be able to issue the immortal words "Next is Götterdämmerung!". Later in the Spring BBCTV is broadcasting the entire Ring but both they and the Royal Opera House are keeping very quiet about it on their websites. I would suggest that you play Anna Russell's Ring of the Nibelungs as preparation...!
