14 Attempts at Learning to Love Wagner

As cross-over artist within the Classical, Jazz, Rock and contemporary music genres, Mike Svoboda takes on the great enigma that is Richard Wagner. Svoboda and his quartet adapt motifs from Wagner’s repertoire and completely re-interpret the music with a line-up of vocals, Classical instruments and unusual additions such as harmonica, melodica and accordion. They prove that the music of the “Ring” composer can be approached with a good sense of humour: the famous “Ride of the Valkyries”, for instance, is played on recorders and various well-known leitmotifs are given intriguing Jazz or Pop treatment, opening up a whole new world of unexpected listening possibilities.