I heard Enoch Powell on Dessert Island Disks say that you could listen to nothing but Wagner's Ring Cycle every day for the rest of your life, and it would still be revealing it's secrets at a deeper and deeper level as time progressed. In Brian McGee's Story of Philosophy he refers to a philosopher (I forget who) who believed that there are truths about the nature of being that are only accessible through music and that these truths form the ultimate level of knowledge that we can aspire to.
An old man, now long dead who was a friend of mine and whose knowledge of classical music was profound, told me that The Ring is just too vast to tackle in large bites. Break it down into half hour chunks was his advice, and absolutely familiarise yourself with one chunk before progressing to the next. Only when this process is completed will you be ready to let whole sections wash over you.
On a recent book searching forray I chanced upon a couple of books discussing the philosophy of the work, and my long-standing desire to tackle the task was rekindled. Anybody out ther with any experience of the work that could make any observations or offer any tips before I commit myself to what may turn out to be 'a fools errand'!
