Richard Wagner Die Feen Sawallisch

This is the first opera written by Richard Wagner. People who dismiss this opera as well as Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi are pompous idiots. There is nothing wrong with these operas, even when they sound a bit Weberian. The same thing is not done in the case of Mozart if his early operas are revived and performed. Wagner's style of writing kept on changing throughout his career. Die Feen became so obscure that it did not see a decent performance until five years after Wagner's death. Sawallisch has brought out this score in the early style of Wagner and this remains as the best performance of this early opera. The work is masterful and no one can complain and talk boldly that there is no dramatic movement in the opera or that there are immature musical expressions in this work. The orchestral writing is bloody good. Wagner has definitely been influenced by Weber in the development of the thematic material. The biggest joke is that during his lifetime, Wagner had difficulty in getting anyone interested enough to even look at the score of this opera. The people who did not like the opera were hypocritical and do not deseve to be mentioned or played for. This live performance has given us an understanding of how it affected the ones attending the opera. This performance may have proved the historians wrong. The conductor and the singers are obviously in love with the work and acknowledge the great merit in it. That kind of energy has made this recording a sublime and technically perfect one. Munich Choir and Bavarian Radio Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra Wolfgang Sawallisch http://youtu.be/FzhEAoirn4o