Concert arrangements of operatic themes for piano, like Liszt’s famous concert paraphrases, obviously provide an opportunity to display one’s virtuosic keyboard technique. As Denis Morrier’s program note for Harmonia Mundi indicates, however, transcriptions of Wagner served a second important purpose: spreading awareness of the composer’s operas when they only played in a limited number of venues. There was no Spotify or Idagio back then!
This labor of love from Nikolai Lugansky, straying from his customary blockbuster repertoire, is certainly welcome. He begins the—begins with lovely, liquid arpeggios under which Donner’s call sounds in the midrange. A gradual, resonant expansion leads to the tossing of the Ring onto the gold pile; Lugansky can’t simulate the famous thunderclap on piano, but the shape of the musical gesture gives the right idea. The ensuing procession of the gods, with its calm, rippling arpeggios, is a guarded affirmation, with the Rhinemaidens’ offstage song—added by the pianist—injecting a briefly troubled note.
