Your favourite Strauss Tone Poems

[Mirror Image]

I'm pretty burnt out on Strauss, but I chose Alpensinfonie, Also sprach Zarathustra, and Don Juan. I don't think these works contain much emotional depth to them, but I admire their craft and the orchestration is just unbelievable.

[Conor71]

I don't listen to much Strauss either but I do like him quite a bit and have a small collection of his Tone Poems and Operas.
From the poll I selected Alpensinfonie (which is one of my favourite orchestral works by any Composer), Ein Heldenleben and Also Sprach Zarathustra

[madaboutmahler]

I don't listen to much Strauss either but I do like him quite a bit and have a small collection of his Tone Poems and Operas.
From the poll I selected Alpensinfonie (which is one of my favourite orchestral works by any Composer), Ein Heldenleben and Also Sprach Zarathustra

Wonderful to hear this, it is one of my absolute favourites from any composer as well! Please do help defending it in the debate below!

Are we talking about Richard Strauss, one of the greatest artists among the composers in the whole history of music and probably most technically accomplished of all of them? Really? This funny musical travel blog is for you his masterpiece?

For me it is is absolutely not this kind of great music that Strauss made before and after. Just because it is not so overwhelming wise as his best works. And have nothing to compare to (for example) Elektra about intensity or to Im Abendrot about beauty.

No, I don't think it is very bad, I don't even think it is really bad but I find it incoherent, rather superficial, in some moments hysterical and almost ridiculous in some concepts.

And there is one really serious technical mistake in it. He used the wandering theme not as ostinato but as theme in variations or leitmotiv. Consecutively after the intense  beginning - even to intense  beginning  - do you really feel like that while watching the sunrise?  - he at once lost a climbing idea and give as a kaleidoscope of wandering scenes - which create rather poor bridge to the climax at the summit and give him no possibility to make this climax really distinctive. We have in it not much more we have in the sunrise. And then we have not very intense thunderstorm descent which makes not very good reason for final calming down.

The really most spectacular fragment of the work is the beginning of the trip. So it is hard to find good reason for this trip.

Nice to listen but nothing like really great Strauss - not in his top twenty.

Yes, we are talking about Richard Strauss, and I have no problem agreeing with Ilaria in saying that I also think that the Alpine Symphony is probably his greatest overall work. Obviously opinions can differ from one another, but I cannot see how you can be so critical of such an amazing work! I think it is far more than a 'funny musical travel blog'. I can't think of many other pieces that are more depictive, powerful and immensely beautiful! You say you wouldn't put the Alpine Symphony in Strauss' top 20 works - please do enlighten us with 20 other works of his that you think are better then!

I get extremely defensive when it comes to my favourite composers/pieces....
Have a nice day! 

[mc ukrneal]

Are we talking about Richard Strauss, one of the greatest artists among the composers in the whole history of music and probably most technically accomplished of all of them? Really? This funny musical travel blog is for you his masterpiece?

For me it is is absolutely not this kind of great music that Strauss made before and after. Just because it is not so overwhelming wise as his best works. And have nothing to compare to (for example) Elektra about intensity or to Im Abendrot about beauty.

No, I don't think it is very bad, I don't even think it is really bad but I find it incoherent, rather superficial, in some moments hysterical and almost ridiculous in some concepts.

And there is one really serious technical mistake in it. He used the wandering theme not as ostinato but as theme in variations or leitmotiv. Consecutively after the intense  beginning - even to intense  beginning  - do you really feel like that while watching the sunrise?  - he at once lost a climbing idea and give as a kaleidoscope of wandering scenes - which create rather poor bridge to the climax at the summit and give him no possibility to make this climax really distinctive. We have in it not much more we have in the sunrise. And then we have not very intense thunderstorm descent which makes not very good reason for final calming down.

The really most spectacular fragment of the work is the beginning of the trip. So it is hard to find good reason for this trip.

Nice to listen but nothing like really great Strauss - not in his top twenty.

Rather strange for me to read this considering I voted for only one piece - the one that is for me head and shoulders above those listed. You guessed it - Mr. Alpine. I would have chosen some of his operas over this perhaps, but those are different. And mind you, I love many of the others that were listed. This is not meant to belittle them.

I think you are short-changing the Alpine Symphony here. I would not disagree that Electra (and Salome) bring a different type of intensity, but the Alpine Symphony has more of a controlled intensity interspersed by some great pastoral ideas. As the sunrise theme comes, I am not sure what you mean by 'that' (bolded). Do I feel the world opening to me? Yes? Do I feel the lethargy of night turning to day and action? Yes. Do I feel the sunrise theme is inspiring? Yes. But this seems critical to you, and we don't know what the 'that' is for you. And what do you mean the climax isn't distinctive? I cannot think of a more spine tingling, goose bump inducing moment in all of music when it comes to the feeling of awe and picture of reaching the summit and looking out across the world. 

By the way, a description from Wikipedia on the opening:

Strauss's An Alpine Symphony opens on a unison B-flat in the strings, horns, and lower woodwinds. From this note a dark B-flat minor scale slowly descends. Each new note is sustained until, eventually, every degree of the scale is heard simultaneously, creating an "opaque mass" of tone representing the deep, mysterious night on the mountain. Trombones and tuba emerge from this wash of sound to solemnly declaim the mountain theme, a majestic motive which recurs often in later sections of the piece. This passage is a rare instance of Strauss's use of polytonality, as the shifting harmony in the middle part of the mountain theme (which includes a D minor triad) clashes intensely with the sustained notes of the B-flat minor scale. As night gives way to daylight in "Sunrise", the theme of the sun is heard—a glorious descending A Major scale which is thematically related to the opening scale depicting night time.

And the thunderstorm and descent - why does this not seem intense? The minors there and all the runs and shifting of the theme all give a solid foundation for a thunderstorm (not to mention the sound effect of wind as well). It is very unsettling for me with the lack of a center through much of it. 

[madaboutmahler]

I think you are short-changing the Alpine Symphony here. I would not disagree that Electra (and Salome) bring a different type of intensity, but the Alpine Symphony has more of a controlled intensity interspersed by some great pastoral ideas. As the sunrise theme comes, I am not sure what you mean by 'that' (bolded). Do I feel the world opening to me? Yes? Do I feel the lethargy of night turning to day and action? Yes. Do I feel the sunrise theme is inspiring? Yes. But this seems critical to you, and we don't know what the 'that' is for you. And what do you mean the climax isn't distinctive? I cannot think of a more spine tingling, goose bump inducing moment in all of music when it comes to the feeling of awe and picture of reaching the summit and looking out across the world. 

Excellently argued - I completely agree with you! The Alpine Symphony has to be one of the most incredibly depictive pieces ever written, surely even people who personally do not like the work would agree with that! Agree with the quote I have highlighted, that section is simply amazing, so powerful!

[Guido]

Alpine outrageously overrated, Don Quixote outrageously underrated. For me Don Quixote is his greatest non vocal work.

[Mirror Image]

Alpine outrageously overrated, Don Quixote outrageously underrated. For me Don Quixote is his greatest non vocal work.

You think Alpensinfonie is overrated? Why? Don Quixote is a fine a work though, that much I agree with.

[TheGSMoeller]

The summit 

http://www.youtube.com/v/xK7z2NhUrsQ

[madaboutmahler]

You think Alpensinfonie is overrated? Why? Don Quixote is a fine a work though, that much I agree with.

Yes, why? It's not even the most famous of the Strauss tone poems, which surely would be Also Sprach Zarathustra due to the opening.

The summit 

http://www.youtube.com/v/xK7z2NhUrsQ

That section is so incredibly amazing, so passionate and powerful! Always sends shivers down my spine! The Berlin Phil are absolutely breathtaking here!

[mszczuj]

we don't know what the 'that' is for you.

Today only about that:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/kcfXUnCo/that.html

[mc ukrneal]

Today only about that:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/kcfXUnCo/that.html

By that point the sunrise has already taken place in that the first rays have already hit. So now we are at the tail end of sunrise. Could be bird calls, could be just the hustle and bustle that follows the sunrise or the singing forth of nature.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm shocked. There is another vote for Domestica.    (By the way, when I listen to it, I completely ignore the program. I think that is essential to enjoying the piece.)

Sarge

[TheGSMoeller]

I'm shocked. There is another vote for Domestica.    (By the way, when I listen to it, I completely ignore the program. I think that is essential to enjoying the piece.)

Sarge

Good point. I've always believed that Domestica featured some of his best music, but it's not necessarily his best tone poem, to me it's best thought as Strauss using his family as inspiration for musical portraits  rather than telling a story, my 3 choices (Till, Quioxte, & Alpine) I feel use colorful instrumentation to portray scenery, action and even words.

[Karl Henning]

I'm shocked. There is another vote for Domestica.    (By the way, when I listen to it, I completely ignore the program. I think that is essential to enjoying the piece.)

This was my tack when listening to Ein Heldenleben on Saturday night . . . a delight to hear the BSO play this!

[Brahmsian]

This was my tack when listening to Ein Heldenleben on Saturday night . . . a delight to hear the BSO play this!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Karl!   

BTW, Manitoba Opera is performing Strauss' Salome in November.  This will be my first Manitoba Opera concert I attend!

[Guido]

You think Alpensinfonie is overrated? Why? Don Quixote is a fine a work though, that much I agree with.

Though it contains many, many wonderful things, as a symphony it doesn't work, and so often he substitutes wondrously energetic note spinning for true inspiration when the muse flags - he was probably the most prefessional composer to work after Beethoven. There's just way too much dross and slag amongst the gold in this piece. For me it's the tone poem equivelant of Die Frau Ohne Schatten - the most ambitious, and lofty of his attempts in the genre, but has so far to fall because of this, and what's required is fundamentally not where his genius lies. Much though I adore him (I really do!), Strauss cannot exalt like Wagner or Bruckner, and that's exactly what is required here. He can't compose a spiritual journey, only an onomatopoeic one.

[mc ukrneal]

He can't compose a spiritual journey, only an onomatopoeic one.

I'm not sure I understand. Can't anyone write a spiritual music piece?

[TheGSMoeller]

This was my tack when listening to Ein Heldenleben on Saturday night . . . a delight to hear the BSO play this!

<--------Jealous monkey...I saw Philly O. do Heldenleben years ago, such a fun piece to see live. And if I read right, Kremer playing Schumann? 

[Karl Henning]

<--------Jealous monkey...I saw Philly O. do Heldenleben years ago, such a fun piece to see live. And if I read right, Kremer playing Schumann? 

Yes, a lovely concert in its entirety, indeed.

[Wanderer]

I'm shocked. There is another vote for Domestica.    (By the way, when I listen to it, I completely ignore the program. I think that is essential to enjoying the piece.)

Sarge

That would be me. I see I voted for Don Quixote, Eine Alpensinfonie and Symphonia Domestica back in 2011 - and my tastes haven't changed. I consider Don Quixote the greatest of the lot. Eine Alpensinfonie, my second favourite, is far more profound and nuanced than many give it credit for (tantalizingly, the working title was for a time Der Antichrist: Eine Alpensinfonie - after Nietsche) and Symphonia Domestica is infectiously fun, witty and contains some of the best music Strauss ever wrote (I'm also very fond of the Parergon zur Symphonia Domestica, the left-hand piano concerto companion piece written for Paul Wittgenstein). Also sprach Zarathustra, Tod und Verklärung and Ein Heldenleben share fourth place. I don't much care for the others (although I do listen to Don Juan or Aus Italien on occassion).