[Desert Island] Strauss Tone Poems

[drogulus]

Yes, Szell. I also own Kempe/Dresden and Maazel/WP. I enjoyed it so much I may do a comparative listening of the three tomorrow.

Sarge

     I prefer the Kempe/Dresden to the Solti/Bavarian RSO, though I'm very happy with both of them.

     

     I've been meaning to get the Blomstedt/SFSO.

[Sergeant Rock]

I prefer the Kempe/Dresden to the Solti/Bavarian RSO, though I'm very happy with both of them.  I've been meaning to get the Blomstedt/SFSO.

I love the Blomstedt/SF Apensinfonie. I didn't know the same forces did the Sinf domestica too. I don't see it at JPC or Amazon.de...maybe it's only available in the States?

Edit: while searching for Blomstedt's Sinf domestica, I came across Furtwängler's! That went into the shopping cart 

Sarge

[drogulus]

     It's a misunderstanding. I forgot you were talking about 3 versions of SD. No, Blomstedt just did the 2 Strauss discs for Decca, Eine Alpensinfonie and Don Juan, and the other was Ein Heldenleben and Metamorphosen.

   

[Sergeant Rock]

     It's a misunderstanding. I forgot you were talking about 3 versions of SD. No, Blomstedt just did the 2 Strauss discs for Decca, Eine Alpensinfonie and Don Juan, and the other was Ein Heldenleben and Metamorphosen.

Ah...I can stop my frantic searching for the nonexistent disc then 

Sarge

[drogulus]

   No, go ahead, see what you can come up with. 

[Wilhelm Richard]

1) Don Quixote
2) Tod und Veklärung
3) Alpensinfonie

[Dancing Divertimentian]

...Burleske...

Runaway winner for me.

[rappy]

The results are not astonishing IMO.
I find Eine Alpensinfonie to be his most haunting and stirring composition. Who does not feel deeply moved after the very thought-provoking conclusion?

[ChamberNut]

The results are not astonishing IMO.
I find Eine Alpensinfonie to be his most haunting and stirring composition. Who does not feel deeply moved after the very thought-provoking conclusion?

The results are not astonishing IMO also.  Although I love most of Strauss' tone poems immensely, Eine Alpensinfonie is by far, for me, my favorite of them all.

[DavidRoss]

I voted:  Donkey Hotey, Till Eulenspiegel's lusty Stretchmarks, and Death Takes a Holiday.

[ChamberNut]

I definitely would have put Metamorphosen as my 2nd choice, had it been listed.  0:)

[rappy]

It's not a tone poem. 

[ChamberNut]

It's not a tone poem. 

Yes, now I realize this. 

As Arnold would say, "It's not a tone poem, not a tone poem at all!"

[drogulus]

   Only 3 votes for Sinfonia Domestica so far. Strauss is often portrayed as complacent and cynical (Alex Ross tells the story in his book about the friendship and rivalry with Mahler, a pair of opposites in many ways). I'm not sure this is the best way to understand him. Part of the problem is that Strauss is resolutely non-tragic. He had no talent for misery. That ability to channel his own suffering is missing not for the usual reason of lack of the requisite abilities as an artist, but instead because he was not unhappy and didn't see the need to pretend he was. A happy artist who contributes to the revolutionary tumult of his day and then appears to turn his back on the revolution presents a problem of interpretation. Was he a phony? Perhaps no more than anyone else. There are a few people who don't really fit with either the society at large or the band of rebels that huddle together.

[Wanderer]

I'd have thought Don Quixote to be in the lead by now, being perhaps his most accomplished and sophisticated tone poem (not to mention a marvelous cello concerto in disguise).
I'm glad Tod und Verklärung receives so much appreciation, though; I was under the impression it was somewhat obscure compared to the others.