Gods and Heroes - the most popular Wagner melodies // Müpa Budapest (Béla Bartók National Concert Hall)

Best of Wagner? Fans of the great German opera composer can list a host of vocal excerpts from his oeuvre that can be performed out of the dramatic flow, but these are mainly found in the early romantic operas. But throughout the oeuvre there are orchestral numbers whose charms remain irresistible even after a hundredth hearing. The artistic director of the Wagner Days in Budapest, Adam Fischer, conducts a selection of these pieces with the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Eight excerpts - from seven works. As many orchestral pieces as there are moods. Each one is able to evoke the atmosphere of the work in question. The Dutch overture to The Planet captivates with the mystery of the saga and the power of the sea, the power of the sea, the struggle of love between earthly and heavenly love in the opening music of Tannhäuser, the noble purity and elemental joy surrounding the mysterious knight of the Grail in the excerpts from Lohengrin, and perhaps the most famous Wagnerian score. The two famous, interlinked orchestral sections of Tristan are filled with passion, while the overture to The Master Singer conveys the proud bearing of the citizens of a medieval German town. The funeral march of the twilight of the gods is one of the most dramatically powerful funeral pieces of all time, and the final movement, The Ride of the Valkyries, condenses the determination and energy that only mythical prodigies can possess. Anyone who has been to the Wagner Days in Budapest to hear one of the complete opera productions will know that Adam Fischer's stylistic knowledge and commitment guarantee a superior experience. His partner, the centenary National Philharmonic Orchestra, boasts a distinguished musicianship that can meet any conductor's standards.