Wagner “Magic Fire Music“ - Stokowski / NBC Symphony (1944)

The closing pages of ’Die Walküre’ from Wagner’s ’“Ring“ Cycle depict Wotan’s displeasure at his daughter Brünnhilde’s disobedience. His punishment is to put her to sleep on the Valkryries’ Rock, surrounded by a wall of magic fire that only a true hero can penetrate. Leopold Stokowski made several arrangements from Wagner’s music-dramas in which the vocal lines are taken over by various orchestral sections. “Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music“ was played at an NBC Symphony concert in 1944 and is one of the items on a ’Pristine Audio’ CD where the decades-old broadcasts are given a vivid new lease of life. We hear the final moments of Stokowski’s refulgent transcription in a typically excellent ’Pristine’ transfer. (PASC 609).