elanya

So, this weekend, I watched, on successive evenings, Das Rheingold and Der Walkurie for the first time. So yes, Wagner is pretty damned awesome. Even though I knew a lot of the story elements anyway, it was all very engrossing. Next week I am missing Siegfried, and the week after that I'll likely take in Gotterdammerung (which I have to keep reminding myself does not actually translate as The God Damned Ring, although it may be an apt title ;).

The music was amazing - I haven't expressly listenied to a lot of Wagner before (I mean, who hasn't heard The Ride of the Valkyries, but other than that...) but I was really enthralled by it. I liked, conceptualy, how his stories were arranged for voice too, breaking out of some of the traditional operatic structures. It kept me more engaged, and I think the musical coherency of it helped with that. I am not a musical expert by any means, but at least on the first listen through I was able to pick out some of the more obvious lietmotifs (hello magical sword, you are the least subtle @_@). It definitely makes me want to listen more! I really really liked James Morris's Wotan, especially when he kills Hunding. Make's Voldemort's "Kill the spare" line read like an episode of the smurfs :p

( And some wank... )

I leave you with the Overture and part of Act I from Die Walkure; it really drew *me* in. It was a dark and stormy night...