 | Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti by Sir Georg Solti
Buy new: $181.98 / Used from: $109.99 It has become sort of fashionable lately to knock both this set & Solti. I guess I'll have to remain hopelessly out of it. I adore this set.
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 | The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy by Bryan Magee
Buy used from: $5.15 Finally, a book on Wagner that isn't fawning or complaining. Magee analyses Wagner's radical (early) leftie and (later) rightie philosophical agendas. Of course, cranky Art & wanky Fred are included.
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 | Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde by Herbert von Karajan
Buy new: $43.98 / Used from: $14.96 Wagner's most awesome work at its most sensual, thanks to Karajan. I can't imagine Verdi or Mozart even attempting this....
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 | Wagner - Parsifal / Knappertsbusch by Richard Wagner
Buy used from: $31.95 If anyone else would have attempted to set this preposterous tale to music, it would have been laughable. Yet..... Wagner, you are gawd!
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 | Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg by Georg Solti
Buy used from: $49.95 If it's fashionable to smack around Solti's Ring, it's almost compulsory to roast this. Still, I love it. Quite powerful. Yo Hans, I need some Nikes.
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 | Wagner: Lohengrin by Richard Wagner
Buy used from: $11.98 Once again, I go for Solti. Radiant orchestration & Solti's interpretation of that orchestration makes this a must.
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 | Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer / Morris, Voigt, Heppner, Rootering, Groves, Svendén, MET, Levine by Deborah Voigt
Buy used from: $16.88 Wagner's first work of genius is still powerful. I recently heard the overture on a bug spray commercial. So, it's got to be good.
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 | Wagner's Tannhäuser: Complete Opera by Richard Wagner
Buy new: $50.98 / Used from: $32.96 Tannhauser is a bit uneven. The Venusberg music makes me ecstatic. However, the overture has yet to be heard on a bug spray commercial.
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 | Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Patrice Chéreau - Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth Festival (Complete Ring Cycle)
Buy used from: $104.99 Despite risking being a pariah among the Wagnerians, I believe Ms. Jones is an amazingly sexy & able Brunnhilde. Her final scene, to me, defines great opera.
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 | Wagner Without Fear: Learning to Love--and Even Enjoy--Opera's Most Demanding Genius by William Berger
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $5.53 Funny, light and to the point. So, about as un-Wagnerian as you can get.
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 | Wagner Nights: An American History (California Studies in 19th Century Music) by Joseph Horowitz
Buy used from: $2.47 Dickie in Disneyland, or something to that effect. Truly an engaging read about Wagner's early acceptance and later rejection in the US.
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 | Richard Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination (Texts and Contexts) by Marc A. Weiner
Buy new: $20.00 / Used from: $8.95 Wagner didn't like Jewish people, so it must be that if any of his opera characters are unpleasant it's because secretly they're Jewish. My, what logic. This really isn't worth your time.
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 | The Ring of Myths: The Israelis, Wagner & the Nazis by Na'Ama Sheffi
Buy new: $65.00 The most intelligent book that I've read that deals specifically with Wagner's ugly anti-Semitism and his untouchable status in Israel.
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