another quick thought on Wagner

I do have Die Walküre on at the moment (Act II just started), and I don’t know whether it’s just that the famous “Ride of the Valkyries” has been so overplayed, but I happen to think it’s musically one of the least interesting moments of the opera: pompous and predictable.

By contrast, there is some surprising weirdness not only to the whole of Act I, but also to the whole Wotan-Brünnhilde interaction early in Act II, and of course the part when Brünnhilde is put to sleep (à la Han Solo) at the end of the opera. In fact, whenever “The Ride of the Valkyries” comes on, I tend to hit the “FF” button and skip it.