His music is only now resurfacing from a political setback, having been the music most strongly supported by and endorsed personally by Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich. He thought its content was not appropriate to war time and to what he wanted the German people to believe. As a man, Wagner was prepared to sacrifice his family and friends in the cause of his own music, and he will never be known otherwise. But as a composer alone, he was a man of great genius. However, it is understandable that since the formation of Israel as a modern state, no composition by Richard Wagner has ever been performed in that country.
Justice is sometimes harsh.
By Charles K. Moss, B.A., M.M. Ed., M. Mus. Our staff is working to bring the very best links on the web about this subject to you. Please check back again. Another reviewer thought the performance so perfunctory that he surmised Scherchen must have been ill. I rather like it, but I find it less inspired and compelling than Scherchen s recordings of the Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Symphonies.