Wow! This is a FANTASTIC hour of radio. Smart, creative, exciting, complex, surprising, sound rich, thoughtful.
The only drawback, for all you program directors out there, is that the piece was made for New York at a particular point in time... so you can't just put this hour on your radio station wholesale. But, you should listen, because this is hot, cutting edge, fantastic radio, and if more public radio sounded like this, no one would be able to turn it off!
The piece addresses two questions: What is Wagner's Ring Cycle? And why does it continue to inspire people? And to answer those questions, the host takes listeners on a journey across NYC - to a class a Julliard, to a restaurant... I won't spoil it by telling you all the places you get to go and the minds you get to meet.
If you can find an hour to listen to this, do. You will be rewarded with inspiration, and images and thoughts that will keep coming back to you long after you're done.
(And don't think you need to know anything about opera or Wagner to love this piece. I knew embarrassingly little about either... and now I want to know so much more).