Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” for Eight Pianos

This fan­tas­tic ren­di­tion of Wag­n­er’s “Ride of the Valkyries” was record­ed at the tenth anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion of the pres­ti­gious Ver­bier Fes­ti­val, and fea­tures eight of the world’s most respect­ed pianists — Evge­ny Kissin, Lang Lang, Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove And­snes, Claude Frank, Mikhail Plet­nev, Staffan Sche­ja, and James Levine. It’s just one of many stel­lar per­for­mances avail­able on this very well-regard­ed con­cert dvd.

Give the piece a lis­ten, espe­cial­ly if you’ve ever con­sid­ered “Valkyries” too over­bear­ing. The all-piano arrange­ment does full jus­tice to the music’s pow­er, while also reliev­ing some of its bom­bast. A def­i­nite win­ner. H/T @brainpicker

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Clas­si­cal Music: A His­to­ry Accord­ing to YouTube

How a Bach Canon Works. Bril­liant!

Sheer­ly Avni is a San Fran­cis­co-based arts and cul­ture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Week­ly, Moth­er Jones, and many oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. You can fol­low her on twit­ter at @sheerly.