The Wagner Journal
Swell Boxes: Dexter Drown considers the latest Wagnerian releases
Swell Boxes: Dexter Drown considers the latest Wagnerian releases
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The Wagner Journal, Volume 19, Number 2, 94–6.
Reviews of Richard Wagner: An Organic Journey: Eight Historical Organ Transcriptions, organ de Man, recorded at Sint Gertrudidskerk, Bergen op Zoom and Elandstraatkerk, The Hague, 2023 (Globe, 1 CD); Thomas Jensen Legacy, volume 23, Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; Die Walküre Act I; Franck Symphony in D Minor; Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2; Schrøder Piazza del Popolo, conducted Jensen, Copenhagen, 1958, 1960 and 1963 (Danacord, 2 CDs).
The young Dutch organist Laurens de Man presents a disc, independently released, of eight organ transcriptions from the turn of the 20th century, recorded on contemporaneous Dutch organs, allowing us to eavesdrop on the sound-world of those early Wagnerians too impatient to wait for the next theatre performance of their favourite opera. The second disc is a new release by Danacord of a historic recording of Act I of Die Walküre and the Meistersinger Prelude from 1960 with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nielsen pupil Thomas Jensen. The celebrity appeal of this recording is a 70-year-old Lauritz Melchior singing Siegmund.