Just reminded myself of Jessye Norman's singing on "Four Last Songs" by listening again to "Fruhling". Beautiful - to me.

It always seems a little pointless claiming that X is vile and Y is wonderful - all art speaks to an individual in an individual way and all tastes are personal, in the end.

The dislike of Wagner for his anti-semitism does throw up the ever-present problem - discussed quite a lot on Mudcat - of the separation or non-separation of a creative artist from his or her personal life and beliefs. Not a question for which I have an answer, I'm afraid.

I personally think Wagner was an arrogant, self-centered shit, but it doesn't stop my from enjoying the "Rienzi Overture" or the Liebestod from "Tristan und Isolde". It didn't stop me from going to Covent Garden in 1971 to see the premier of the Peter Hall production of Tristan - very controversial because of its staging and production - boos at the end by large sections of the audience. Quite a fascinating night! Solti conducting and the leads taken by Jess Thomas and Birgit Nilsson. I didn't care for all of it, thought Wagner was an arrogant, self-centered shit, but It was an interesting evening.