Revolutionary. See, he smiles in the shining light. Wilfried Ehrenholz and Jan Geschke, Hamburg, Producers

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Revolutionary. Wagner, the magician, has made the orchestra disappear. (Georg Solti) However, this recording goes one step further than the master, with his unusual stage design in Bayreuth.

2 Revolutionary. Wagner, the magician, has made the orchestra disappear. (Georg Solti) However, this recording goes one step further than the master, with his unusual stage design in Bayreuth. With the removal of orchestral and vocal commotion (Carlos Kleiber, in the studio during the mixing of his TRISTAN recording), the listener is able to hear the very essence of the work, which suddenly has much more of an inward effect (CK). Here, in the RING PIANOS PROJECT, the music is once again liberated from the effects of orchestration. The result is uncanny, drawing you in with a seemingly magical series of harmonies and notes to produce a deeper and more intense experience (Klaus Hiemann, Studio Engineer for Carlos Kleiber, speaking about this recording). Thanks to Cord Garben and Thomas Hoppe for the tour de force. Thanks to Steingraeber for the concert grands; Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner were not mistaken. Thanks to our puristic sound engineer Johannes Müller and mastering guru Christoph Stickel, on behalf of all audiophile Wagnerites. Thanks to Dynaudio for the monitors, on which only true gold glitters. And thanks to everyone who who will fall for this recording in Wagner Year Never before has there been a Ring like this. See, he smiles in the shining light. Wilfried Ehrenholz and Jan Geschke, Hamburg, Producers

3 Perfectly single and simple. In the Nibelung s Ring we find an enormous range of emotions, from the deepest sorrow, pain and despair to joy, wonder and elevated pride, from fear and anxiety to self-confidence and firmness, from arrogance to heroism, from hate and rage to rapture and ecstasy, from betrayal, treachery and falseness to compassion, tenderness, love and total self-sacrifice. Its dramatic moments lie quite outside the consciousness of people whose joys and sorrows are all domestic and personal, and whose religions and political ideas are purely conventional and superstitious. To them it is a struggle between half a dozen fairytale personages for a ring, involving hours of scolding and cheating, and one long scene in a dark gruesome mine, with gloomy, ugly music, and not a glimpse of a handsome young man or pretty woman. Only those of wider consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the dilemmas from which the world is shrinking today. Now to be devoted to Wagner merely as a dog is devoted to his master, sharing a few elementary ideas, appetites and emotions with him, and, for the rest, reverencing his superiority without understanding it, is no true Wagnerism. The Ring music is perfectly single and simple. It is the adept musician of the old school who has everything to unlearn. George Bernard Shaw, Ayot St. Lawrence, 1898

4 Occupy Wagner. See there, there stream the legions from the factories; they ve made and fashioned lordly stuffs, themselves and children, they are naked, frozen, hungry; for not to them belongs the fruit of all their labour, but to the rich and mighty one who calls men and the earth his own. Annulled be the fancy that makes man bond-slave to his handiwork, to property. Man s highest good is his fashioning force, the fount whence springs all happiness forever; and not in the created. (..) I will destroy this order of things, that cuts enjoyment off from labour, makes labour a load, enjoyment a vice, makes one man wretched through want, another through overflow... Richard Wagner, co-editor of The Revolution, April 8, 1849, Dresden On May 9, Wagner was forced to flee Dresden, together with the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, among others. In Chemnitz, Bakunin and two of Wagner s fugitive friends were taken prison while they slept; Wagner escaped to Weimar. Along with others, Bakunin was condemned to death, but was pardoned and spent years in imprisonment. Wagner remained in exile for 12 years, during which time he worked on the RING.

5 Apocalypse, now. The Rhinegold 1 Prelude 2 1. Scene (Alberich, Rhinemaidens) The gold lies on the riverbed. The Rhine maidens tease each other, a symbol of peace and the riches of nature. The dwarf Alberich looks on greedily. The maidens make fun of him until he seizes an opportunity to steal the gold. ACT I 6 I. Curtain, prelude (thunderstorm) 7 The Valkyrie 3. Scene (Siegmund and Sieglinde) Siegmund is pursued through the forest in the thunderstorm. He takes shelter in Hunding s house. He feels a deep attraction to Hunding s wife Sieglinde. When they realise they are brother and sister, they burn with mutual love. Siegfried is conceived Scene (Gods and giants) The giants demand in vain that Wotan pay them for building the castle for the gods. Wotan plans to steal Alberich s gold to pay the giants. Loge philosophises about love and power. Fricka, Wotan s wife, despairs about his weakness, constant unfaithfulness and megalomania, despite the fact that it was she who encouraged him to build the castle. 3. Scene (Nibelheim) In Nibelheim, the dwarves slave under Alberich s whip. With Loge s help, Wotan steals the treasure. He uses it to pay the giants, and his kidnapped daughter Freia is free. 4. Scene (The gods move into Valhalla) In apparent peace, the gods move proudly into the sumptuous castle. ACT II 8 9 Curtain, prelude The prelude depicts the pair s desperation in view of the imminent duel with Hunding, in which Brünnhilde helps Siegmund, against Wotan s orders. 4. Scene (death announcement) Death announcement. Brünnhilde to Siegmund: Whoever looks on me bids farewell to the flame of life. Wotan steps in and, at Fricka s request, helps Hunding to victory. ACT III 10 Curtain, prelude (The Valkyries) The Valkyries ride furiously. They transport the dead heroes to Valhalla. In extreme agitation, they learn that Wotan has condemned their sister Brünnhilde. 11 Scene (Wotan s departure. Fire magic) Wotan s departure and fire magic. In great inner turmoil, Wotan strips his favourite daughter Brünnhilde of her immortality. He encloses her in a ring of fire, until she is freed by her worthy hero.

6 Back to the source. The works of great symphonic literature were developed by their composers in the notation from a nucleus of two or three systems: piano score (2 note systems) and short score (3 to 4) contain the first structuring of the musical ideas. Here, themes and motifs are developed and their course determined. At this point, the composer already has an idea of the orchestral instrument to which he will allocate each musical component, leading to the final overall sound in the orchestration process. Even one page of a large Wagner score, which may contain up to 30 note systems, started out as just a few staves. When a director or composer familiar with the craft decides to arrange scores from great Wagnerian musical dramas for the piano, he reverses this development process: now it is about recreating the sounds with only the piano. Thus, where there might seem to be a disadvantage for the listener, because of a lack of sounds from the instruments of the orchestra, there is in fact an advantage: by reducing the sounds available to only those of the piano, the listener is able to directly hear the structure of the work and its harmonic grammar. Thanks to this deeper insight into the inner workings of the music, the next time the listener falls under its spell in the theatre, he or she will hear it with different ears. Cord Garben, Hamburg

Cord Garben Born in Bad Homburg in 1943. Studied piano and conducting at the Academy of Music in Hanover. Répétiteur at the Staatstheater in Lower Saxony. Specialises in song accompaniment.

7 Cord Garben Born in Bad Homburg in Studied piano and conducting at the Academy of Music in Hanover. Répétiteur at the Staatstheater in Lower Saxony. Specialises in song accompaniment. Concerts and recordings with Edith Mathis, Anne Sophie v. Otter, Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Bernd Weikl and Kurt Moll, among others. Accompaniment to the complete song recordings of Alexander Zemlinsky and Hector Berlioz and to the songs and ballads of Carl Loewe (21 CDs, finished in 2005). Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, French Minister of Culture prize for the best cultural initiative, Grand Prix Franz Liszt Budapest, seven Grammy Awards as producer. Key achievements during his time at Deutsche Grammophon included the work with Herbert v. Karajan, Mstislav Rostropovich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. As Director of Vocal Productions, he was responsible for all vocal productions. Some of the main highlights in this area were the recordings at the New York MET under James Levine (including Wagner s RING). As conductor, Cord Garben has worked with, among others, the NDR Symphony Orchestra (tours and CDs with Benedetti Michelangeli), the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (Wagner s Tannhäuser in 2001), the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, NDR Radiophilharmonie, and Radio Symphony Orchestra Warsaw. In 2001, Cord Garben became President of the Johannes-Brahms-Gesellschaft, Hamburg and an Honorary Member of the International Carl-Loewe-Gesellschaft.

8 Thomas Hoppe Born in Bad Kreuznach. Studied with Agathe Wanek in Mainz and Lee Luvisi in the USA. At the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, he specialised in song and instrumental accompaniment. For many years, Hoppe was studio accompanist for Dorothy Delay and Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School. Between 2001 and 2004, he worked as a faculty member on the Perlman Music Program at the personal invitation of the violinist. Hoppe performs in concerts in the USA and Europe as piano accompanist to, among others, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Antje Weithaas, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Alban Gerhardt, Jens Peter Mainz, Mihaela Martin and Frans Helmerson. As a member of the ATOS Trio, he won the Deutscher Musik Wettbewerb in 2004, the Schubert Wettbewerb in Graz in 2006, and the renowned Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the North American Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson- Award in In 2009, the ATOS Trio was named New Generation Artists by BBC London. The musicians regularly perform in concerts in Europe, the USA and Australia in legendary venues such as London s Wigmore Hall, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Kennedy Center in Washington and Carnegie Hall in New York. Hoppe regularly works as official piano accompanist in various international competitions (ARD Munich, Queen Elizabeth Brussels, Joseph Joachim Hanover). He has held master classes in Chile (Frutillar Music Festival), Bulgaria (Varna), Michigan (Gilmore Festival), Shanghai (Conservatory), Kentucky, Arizona and New York City, Melbourne, Sydney and Berlin. He is a chamber music tutor at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and for the Staatsoper in Berlin, and is Artistic Associate at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

9 Produce gold. Philosophy: to record the ensemble of two mature grand pianos as purely as possible with the highest quality standards and the minimum technology possible: two sphere microphones as poly-directional microphones, two wide angles as direct sound microphones for each concert grand. The grand piano microphones go directly without stopover into the pre-amplifiers/converters of the Nagra equipment for the shortest possible signal path to recording. The sphere microphones are specially pre-amplified using Sonosax PreAmp. The microphone signals are recorded on separate tracks in 96 khz / 24 bit resolution. This means the mix chosen at the recording venue can be refined even further in mastering and made even more transparent and balanced. Johannes Müller, sound engineer, and Christoph Stickel, Mastering, Munich. 2x Steingraeber Franz Liszt concert grand 2x DPA 4006-TL (Spheres) 4x Neumann KM143 (Wide-Angle Cardioid) Sonosax SX-M2 Mic PreAmp Nagra VI 8-Channel Recorder Stax SR-404 Headphones Dynaudio Focus 160 & Confidence C4 Signature Loudspeakers Dynaudio Air 25 Studio Monitors The triple concert grand invented on the spot for the Ring Pianos Project. The lid of the old Steingraeber concert grand replaced the lid removed from the second grand piano.

10 Wagner, grand. At the end of the 19th century, technical advancements coupled with pressure from solo virtuosos led to increasingly full and dense piano sounds, but also to a loss of polyphony and transparency. Until now, piano construction and expectations have been marked by an either/or situation: either colour or power. This needs to be overcome. Ideally, it should be possible to reflect both sides of the music: the murder and killing, but also the love, longing and sadness. Our pianos, particularly of course the large Franz-Liszt concert grand used here, are able to reflect all the voices in the orchestra. Wagner s tonal visions were not linked to instruments: a good piano is ideally suited to realising tonal visions, even without a large orchestra. Udo Steingraeber, CEO Steingraeber Pianos, Bayreuth An obsession with reproducing great music to a higher level of authenticity as never experienced before was a primary basis for the foundation of Dynaudio over 37 years ago. However, in order to achieve this ideal, realistic recordings are needed. It was therefore a huge challenge to realise this truly extraordinary project. Composition, instruments and artists form a harmonic whole. The more consistent the technological design, the more it fades into the background, allowing the music to come to life. This principle has always lain behind Dynaudio loudspeakers, and now it also applies to the recording technology used here. The result is a Wagner in a new, higher quality audiophile dimension. Wilfried Ehrenholz, CEO Dynaudio, Skanderborg, Executive Producer

Am Grabe Richard Wagners (Franz Liszt, 1883) A Dynaudio record Recorded 22.4.-26.4.2012 in Bayreuth, Germany in the concert hall of the Protestant community.

12 Am Grabe Richard Wagners (Franz Liszt, 1883) A Dynaudio record Recorded in Bayreuth, Germany in the concert hall of the Protestant community. Piano Technician Peter Cerveny Creative Producer Jan Geschke Assistant Producer Jan Kretschmer Executive Producer Wilfried Ehrenholz Sound Engineer Johannes Müller Mastering Christoph Stickel Photography Paul Schirnhofer Art Direction Eike Peter Frost Graphic Claudia Schäfer Special thanks to Klaus Hiemann, Sabrina Cerveny und Marina Zeuschel (Steingraeber), Arnfried Weiss, Stefan Pufe and Hotel Goldener Anker Bayreuth Dynaudio Records c/o Dynaudio International GmbH Ohepark Rosengarten Germany Phone +49 (0) Fax +49 (0) records@dynaudio.com please feel free to come around: Dynaudio Dynaudiophiles

13 I will destroy each phantom that has rule o er men. I will destroy the dominion of one over many, of the dead o er the living, of matter over spirit; I will break the power of the mighty, of law, of property. Richard Wagner The world premiere of the Ring transcribed for 2 pianos by Hermann Behn, Wagner without horns, drums, masquerade. Pure Wagner. On Steingraeber concert grands from Bayreuth, in Bayreuth. Masterfully recorded and produced for the audiophile on Dynaudio. Revolutionary.

Wagner s The Ring of the Nibelung focuses on several types of love relationships,

Wagner s The Ring of the Nibelung focuses on several types of love relationships, including father-daughter, spousal, incestuous and star-crossed. Despite the type of relationship focused upon, Wagner