WAGNER:

This orchestral synthesis of motifs and segments from Wagner’s famous operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen was arranged by Henk Vlieger to highlight Wagner’s underlying symphonic way of thinking. Vlieger is a composer in his own right and also a percussionist with The Netherlands Radio Orchestra. Amazingly, all the major themes and leitmotifs remain, despite the fact that four mighty operas have been compressed into a 60-minute symphonic treatment. After hearing a performance of the work, a critic from The Boston Herald wrote, ‘Towards the end, it actually seemed like we had experienced the entire Ring Cycle – a tribute to the orchestrator’s talents’. The disc also includes the Siegfried Idyll. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is conducted by Neeme Järvi, back together on Chandos after a fifteen-year interval.

It is over 15 years since Neeme Jarvi and the RSNO made a new recording for Chandos. So it is with particular pleasure that we announce this recording which marks Jarvi’s return to Scotland in his capacity as Conductor Laureate at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

This 67-minute, orchestra-only version of Wagner’s famous opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen is arranged by Henk de Vlieger, arranger, composer and percussionist in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. The work was commissioned by the orchestra and the result is a 14-section fiery musical spectacle entitled The Ring, an orchestral adventure. This symphonic ‘compilation’ compresses Wagner’s four mighty Ring operas, yet includes all the major themes and ‘leitmotifs’. The result is an overwhelming experience and a must for anyone who loves blazing orchestral colours.

The Minneapolis Tribune wrote; ‘The way that De Vlieger has created transitions between scenes and acts is quite ingenious… Bits of Rheingold, Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung floated past, melded together as if some Wagnerian superman who understood the whole and articulated it in particular. Highlights were everywhere. Horns, sounded offstage and on, reminded listeners of the great arias, without the singers to sing it… Toward the end, it actually seemed like we had experienced the entire Ring cycle – a tribute to the orchestrator’s talents,’ wrote the Boston Herald following a performance of the work. Coupled to this mighty work is Siegfried Idyll, which is thematically related to the Ring, and although with quite a different subject matter, complements the Orchestral Adventure perfectly.