GERMAN

Language Classes for Children
Age 5-13 years
with or without prior knowledge

Classes are held Mondays & Thursdays 4-5:30 pm.
Registration at 7:30 pm. :
Sept. 10, Lucas Centre for Continuing Education
2132 Hamilton Ave, North Van.

For more information phone
Christine Colbow 926-2730

Photo submits

BRUNNHILDE'S IMMOLATION scene fron: Gotterdammmerung in a 1976 performance of Wagner’s

Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival.

- Tower of song

Excerpts from Wagner’s mammoth -Ring cycle

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (excerpts): Erato 2292-45786-2,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim conducting,
Deborah Polaski soprano. Selections: Der Ritt der Walkuren (Die
Watkure); Waldweben (Siegfried); Tagesgrauen und Siegfried’s
Rheinfahrt; Siegfried’s Tod and Trauermarsch (Gotterdammerung);
Brunnhilde’s Schlussgesang. ~

# AGNER ELICITS such strange reactions from so
many different people that it’s difficult to know
just who his audience might be.

ve heard him roundly criti-
cized by people who have never
heard his music as well as highly
praised solely on the basis of his
posthumous contribution to the
movie Apocalypse Now.

it’s no wonder, then, that we see
a proliferation of excerpt and ex-
tract recordings as each label tries
to tap into every aspect of an
obscure market.

Among the potpourri of personal
favorites we looked at last time
was a different Wagner collection
featuring George Szel! and The
Cleveland Orchestra ... and that
highly recommended recording
remains unthreatened here.

This new recording from Erato
jeatures selections from among the
most popular moments in
Wagner’s four-opera extravagan-
za, Crossing over into what, in
many cases, is already available

Ross MacDonald
CLASSICAL MUSIC

from other sources. se
There are, however, several
elements of this collection that
make it a worthwhile purchase
despite an equal number of factors

Journey to the

SOUTH PACIFIC

Aside show, film presentatio:

Cook Islands / Fiji

working against it.

On the positive side, it contains
a goodly cross-section of the vast
array of expression that Wagner
managed to pack into his ex-
asperatingly long, obsessive
masterpiece.

But, between the all-too-famitiar
surge of Brunnhilde with siblings
charging across the skies and the
nervous chatterings of Siegfried’s
little forest friends, Barenboim
squeezes every ounce of contrast
out of the music with a dynamic
range that challenges even the
most sensitive ear — you might
feel a bit like a Valkyrie yourself as
you dash across the room on
multiple occasions to fiddle with
the volume knob.

Also blending the good with the
bad is Barenboim's approach to
the music which sets a less familiar
instrumental balance and pace to
several of the selections, par-
ticularly Siegfried’s Funeral March
which has become somewhat pe-

See Barenboim’s page 35

e music ¢ drama © clowning

from Vancouver to London

¥ Thurs., Sept. 24
Delbrook Rec Centre
(Oak Room)
600 W. Queens Rd.

Door Prizes

from Moscow to Tokyo

Over 500 performances ° All tickets under $70

VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL

& ON NOW TILL SUNDAY, SEPT. 20

Light Refreshments
Tickets ar Westview Travelink $3.00
at the door $5.00

S @ air new zeatana
The Price of the Pacific

WESTVIEW TRAVELINK 986.9376

Central Box Office:

85 E. 10th & Quebec VanCity SAB
Guide/info: 873-3646 or
Coast 1040 Superphone 280-6000