Der Ring des Nibelungen, Pentatone deluxe edition
A multichannel surround sound recording of The Ring in a luxurious collector box set containing 13 SA-CDs and a book with more than 250 pages including essays, biographies and full librettos in English and German.
The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin together with conductor Marek Janowski, one of the great masters and exponents of the music of the German tradition who also conducts at the Bayreuth Festival, recorded the four Ring operas at the Berliner Philharmonie in 2012 and 2013. All recordings were made during a unique series of live concertante performances, which allows for an orchestral clarity that is impossible to achieve when the orchestra is placed in a pit.
The way the album is designed, with its dark colours and large typography, is intended to give an added visual dimension to the epic music, representing in a way the missing “theatre” and completing Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk.
“This feeling of all-encompassing darkness and human futility can be found throughout the entire packaging design. The slipcase, the CD tray, the large CD booklet are entirely printed in both dark gray and silver Pantone ink together with a high density of black ink, so the images are only visible to those who have the will and desire to look closer and see them.”
“To achieve an overwhelming feeling, all text pages have small margins and are filled wigth long lines of black and gray text. Just like Wagner’s music, there is no space to breathe. It is long, heavy and goes on and on. … Stanley is characterized by sharp counter forms … This highly contrasted serif font hints at a gothic typeface, often used in 19th-century Germany.”
