| The Ring Disc: An Interactive Guide to Wagners Ring Cycle (Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) |  | Creators: Wagner, Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Publisher: Media Cafe Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $79.98
Buy New: $60.00
You Save: $19.98 (25%)
New (2) Used (2) from $60.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 607673
Media: CD-ROM
Discs: 14
ISBN: 0965735702
UPC: 636978500008
EAN: 9780965735704
ASIN: B000001A3A
Release Date: April 2, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
At a loss for words . . . November 15, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Fantastic, overwhelming . . . superb guide. Easy to use, fine reproduction of the music (the entire Ring all on one CD!), running commentary with hypertext notes on themes and characters, notes on the leitmotifs with sound bites, images, etc. -- can't say enough, really. Only suggestion would be to have additional navigation by "track" (as on a conventional CD, if possible) -- but this is a quibble.
Buy this -- you will not regret it one bit -- this is the guide to the Ring you have always wanted.
A graduate level course on Wagner's "Ring" April 10, 2002
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
When I was a graduate student in college, I took a two-semester course on the operas of Richard Wagner: the first semester was on his "other" operas and the second was on "Der Ring des Nibelungen". The second semester was spent in Germany, where we attended a performance of the complete "Ring" at Bayreuth (glorious!). Finding a copy of this Ring Disc ... was a real treasure (I must have bought the last one available, unfortunately, as it now available only as a used CD). This program really allows me to dig into the Ring once again, after so many years. It's a shame that the audio quality isn't any better, but 14.5 hours on one CDR is still remarkable. I recently purchased the new DVD set of the Ring, with Pierre Boulez (That's another review entirely!), and find the Ring Disc a helpful supplement. It is a shame that it seems to POP, but at the original ... list price, no wonder.If you can find a copy, all you Wagner fans, buy it!
Excellent way to enjoy the Ring -- Incredible value too! March 29, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This CD is amazing in that it presents the entire Ring Cycle -- all 14 hours or so -- in very acceptable (albeit mono) sound on a single computer disk. The recording used is the famous one George Solti made with the leading Wagners singers from the late 1950s and early 60s that is considered one of the best recordings of these works. The software side of the disk is great, in that you can instantly choose the opera you want to go to, along with act and scene within the act. You can follow the operas in three ways (simultaneously if you want) -- there is a piano score, the libretto, and (very nice) a part of the screen that lists the leitmotifs that are being played. You can readily move through any part of the opera with a scroll bar, and there are lots of hyperlinks that take you to musical examples and some (almost a 100) very nice short essays on the Ring and its characters. This really is a great piece of software if you are interested in the Ring, and is a good value at...the list price..., and a truly unbelievable value at the [price] Amazon is now asking for it.
A wonderful resource February 19, 2002
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
This CD-Rom is the best guide I've come across in 18 years of studying the Ring music dramas. The highly compressed music (14.5 hours on 1 CD!) is recorded in mono, but still sounds okay. The CD plays on my Windows 98 PC with no installation, no technical hassles at all. There are numerous hyperlinks so you can go to any section of the 4 operas in one click. Most impressive of all is the thorough cataloging of the leitmotifs. The commentary here is especially inciteful, illustrating how leitmotifs are developed and related to other leitmotifs, musically and dramatically. The explanation of the "love-curse" motif (usually mislabled the "renunciation motif) is particularly good.
I can't recommend this highly enough. (...)
Hooray, I wish I could have bought this 10 years ago July 27, 2000
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
The sound quality on this issue is pretty similar to that ofthe CDs, given that both are digitally remastered from original analogtapes. It would be well worth investing in higher quality computer speakers to take full advantage of the fine audio quality of this release. I have seen this package offered for sale only once outside of Amazon.com, and as I recall the retailer was asking a great deal more. The additional features of this issue make it very valuable for music study, the piano scores bought separately cost a fair sum. It is also very helpful to have the leitmotives (or as Wagner called them, Gedachnismotiven, meaning motives of memory) almost musically dissectable from the scores. All in all, this is one of the most attractive options available of acquiring the complete Ring. The Solti is not my favourite cycle, either as a whole or in part, but at this price, with all the extra features and conveniences, it would be very hard to give this set anything less than a full recommendation. Those who have already invested in other versions of this cycle on CD, including Solti's very popular recording, should not be too concerned about the costs of duplication. The extra and unique features of this issue make it well worth the outlay.
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