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Scary Wagner

any thanks for Ashutosh Khandekar’s fascinating article on the supernatural in opera (June issue) and Richard Morrison’s column on ten concert works that scare him (I agree about all ten). The first piece of classical music to give me an authentic frisson of terror and unease was a recording of Otto Klemperer conducting the overture to Wagner’s – the atmosphere of brooding malignity and violent arrogance is palpable and distilled. Whether that was the composer’s intention is arguable but I subsequently learned that Hitler, an ardent Wagnerite, claimedoverture and Siegfried’s funeral music from .