Oh goody, goody! This morning, a second track from the very very rare Kenton-Wagner album practically jumped off the internet at me!
A few months ago, I posted jazz-great Stan Kenton’s version of “The Ride Of The Valkyries”. Today, I’ve also got Kenton’s Prelude to Act III Of Lohengrin!
- Stan Kenton, Prelude To Act III Of Lohengrin.
- Stan Kenton, The Ride Of The Valkyries.
While Kenton’s “Ride Of The Valkyries” speaks to me, his Lohengrin most definitely does not. Kenton’s Ride sort of springs out of the original Wagner, but Kenton’s Lohengrin is all Kenton. Wagner is expunged so totally that to include this track on an album titled Kenton-Wagner is egregious false-advertising.
- Verdict — Kenton’s Lohengrin sounds like an American Brass Christmas Concert drenched in Red Bull eggnog.
Isn’t there some law against giving speed to a swan? And yet … if conducted by Maestro James Levine, Kenton’s Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin just might work. But then I’d be the one needing the speed.
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Robert Cadena 10.16.07 at 8:28 pm
I grew up on Kenton and I recogonize this one. I enjoyed his rendition of West Side Story and “Adventure in Series”. I think it was after he got that new generation of kids in his band that the quality went South. But I also heard his Christmas Album and it was bitter-sweet. I think he was trying to keep to much of it while not turning it into real jazz. Duke Ellington’s rendition of classics (Nutcracker & Peer Gynt) were grand. You recognize the themes but his sound, personality is there.