Still in the aftermath of Tristan. Dying is inherent to opera. We get used to it, but the way Tristan takes his time here (almost the entire third act) continues to capture the imagination and stir the senses. Jon Vickers tackles Tristan's fever dream with harrowing intensity here.

Night music youtu.be/2IjJXVY4j7U?...

After Giulio Cesare yesterday at the Concertgebouw (more than three hours of arias), today it's time for Tristan und Isolde, more than three hours without arias. Wagner. Live. Wonderful.

Post a banger that isn't English

Franz Liszt in the phot-o-matic

Operation Mindcrime Queensrÿche's masterpiece from 1988 "The rich control the government, the media, the law To make some kind of difference then everyone must know Eradicate the fascists, revolution will grow"

An opera by Olga Neuwirth & Elfriede Jelinek, staged by Tobias Kratzer. The story involves a King-President obsessed with shit (modelled on Donald Trump) who battles a monster named Gorgonzilla while two vampires comment on the action. This a severe case of FMO! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI-7...

In DIE SOLDATEN, Bernd Zimmermann encapsulates his idea of Total Theatre in an opera in which time collides. Past, present, and future coexist simultaneously, reflecting the way memory, trauma, and anticipation shape human experience. One of the most moving & fascinating operas of the 20th century.

Die Gezeichneten. An opera set by its composer and librettist Franz Schreker in 16th-century Genoa, because power, greed, lust and love transcend the boundaries of centuries. It also features an island where the rich elite abuse young women (...)

ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE MAIDEN It's the 31st of January This is your reminder that Franz Schubert and Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) share a birthday 🤘 #classicalmusic #@metalsky

Combining clean vocals with grunts is not unique in metal, but Tatiana Shmayluk is in a class of her own. With her, the two voice types really are two different personalities. Like hearing two different singers. The Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde of metal land. #metalksky www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMbG...

For the shifting time signature loving metal fan JINJER from Ukraine is a treat. Very good musicians and an amazing vocalist #metalsky youtu.be/tRHTkdELyo8

Music while you sleep youtu.be/TPGAJIaZ970?...

Wednesday=Wotan's day Today the chief god faces the music when his politics of sperm hits rock bottom. After having to let Siegmund killed he says farewell to Brünnhilde.

Hilariously informative this is: A HISTORY OF HEAVY METAL according to Andrew O'Neill. Indestructibly entertaining and kind of a sentimental journey. 🤘🥴🤘 #metalsky youtu.be/pzmHmtSbfOk?...

More metal for piano. A balls-to-the-wall piano cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets. It captures the dynamics of the original remarkably well. 🤘 youtu.be/HIJPxxoF7dw?...

Death metal for piano demonstrates Chuck Schuldiner's versatility as a composer. A wonderful way to ring in the weekend. #metalsky youtu.be/AjwYMjZRkIU?...

It's Friday, the day of Freia www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/judging...

With Richard Wagner, you can look ahead to the future. To the music that came after him (film music, heavy metal). With Pygmalion's arrangements of Wagner's music, you look back to the music that came before him. As if Thomas Tallis were paying a visit to Das Rheingold. youtu.be/AQC06AqPnDw?...

The Great Satan by TRIVAX (founded in Iran, now based in England) is black metal complemented by an oriental sound palette. With lyrics (in English, Arabic & Farsi) that leave no room for misunderstanding. (The Great Satan is ayatollah Khomeini) #metalsky www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOs...

Badewanne (Bathtub) by Joseph Beuys aka Brünnhilde's Bathtub or Coffin for a Valkyrie

Monday

With Blackstar, the album that initially seemed to be a comeback, David Bowie wrote his own requiem. youtu.be/kszLwBaC4Sw?...

This live performance of 'Station of Station' is absolutely ace. youtu.be/WSQHFUe6Y5s?...

10 years ago we lost David Bowie www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/david-b...

Today it's her 70th birthday so here is WALTRAUD MEIER as Venus 🖤 (Tannhäuser, Bayerische Staatsoper 1995)

On the birthday of David Bowie: White trash picking up Nazi flags While you was gone, there was war This is the West, get used to it They put a swastika over the door Under the God One step over the red line Under the God Ten steps into the crazy crazy youtu.be/fg7qKWQRDwk?...

On the birthday of David Bowie youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo?...

Poulenc's Organ Concerto: A wonderfull, bit batshit crazy, all over the place piece of music with an "evil man in a high castle"-vibe. 😈 On the birthday of Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) www.youtube.com/watch?v=RduL...

On the day that bears his name (Wednesday = day of Wotan) this blast of the past has Friedrich Schorr singing a most moving and heroic Wotan's Farewell.💥 An excellent performance in good sound (especially given the date of recording). #opera www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLM...

Siegfried Act 1 is hugely underrated - it’s a great example of a composer reaching the epitome of an early style, the perfection of which demands a left turn to follow. See also Le Nozze Di Figaro, Beethoven’s 3rd, OK Computer.

"Siegfrieds Trauermarsch" paired with a clip from Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen. Not as Lang intended it, he did not like Wagner, hated him even, but for those who like opera, Wagner and German expressionism from the 1920s there is a lot to enjoy here. youtu.be/YF6M4g6xwGE?...

40 years ago since the death of PHIL LYNOTT youtu.be/oi74n-LCW3o?...

Let it snow #metalsky www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_ht...

"I’ve found that the most emotional composers, Mahler and Wagner, are the most fantastic architects. The balance of large-scale structure and the emotional world that is brought forth from that is what draws me to both the operas of Wagner and the symphonies of Mahler." - Pierre Boulez

10 years ago Pierre Boulez died. Music that demonstrates that true heaviness is best achieved by the sum of its parts, rather than by emphasising a single component. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyXG...

This is from 10 years ago. The death of PIERRE BOULEZ. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/boulez-...

This is from 10 years ago. The death of PIERRE BOULEZ. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/boulez-...

“Die Höllenorgel” (The Organ from Hell), 1924 Gyula Zilzer (1898–1969)

METROPOLIS, Fritz Lang's depiction of 2026 A movie for which various soundtracks have been written over the years (the original score by Huppertz was long thought to be lost). Combining black metal with scenes from this iconic film makes for an excellent trailer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZXX...

METROPOLIS, Fritz Lang's depiction of 2026. A movie that shows that, despite all later technical developments, movie as an art-form has not changed significantly across the years and that its peak, reached back in the 1920s, is in many respects unsurpassed until this day. youtu.be/_q25QpZXfoU?...

Chill

The Flying Dutchman: Act III, The Ecstasy of Senta and the Dutchman (Henri Fantin-Latour, 1886)

In 1901, Der Fliegende Holländer was performed for the first time in Bayreuth. BRAM STOKER, who had made a name for himself with DRACULA (in 1897) was in the audience.

On 2 January 1843: Richard Wagner conducts the premiere of DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER at the Königliches Hoftheater in Dresden.

Happy New Year everyone! Alla vostra salute! with the best theatrical depiction of the Walkürenritt that I'm aware of 🔥 youtu.be/FPcrqkViZKw?...

To the end, and to a new beginning. (clip: the end of Götterdämmerung, the end of the Ring cycle / Wagner Museum, Bayreuth)

It's not every year that we see a complete Wagner opera released so gratitude is in order. This is very much Senta's Holländer, with an outstanding Lisa Davidsen. Gerald Finlay is less the thunderbolt I like to hear in the title role but he compensates for that with a beautiful interpretative skill.

Sailing towards the end of the year with my favorite metal of 2025. Goldstar by Imperial Triumphant (mind bending extreme jazz metal) and Dissonance Theory by Coroner (my favorite put-it-on-repeat album of the year) #metalsky