Topic: Richard Strauss's house

[Brahmsian]

The opera definitely makes one a bit queasy, especially in a really fine production. 

Perhaps a warning should be put on the label:  Avoid eating at least two hours prior to viewing. 

[Brewski]

Perhaps a warning should be put on the label:  Avoid eating at least two hours prior to viewing. 

Not a bad idea at all...   I know I prefer to dine after.  (And nothing with a head on it, either.  )

--Bruce

[Brahmsian]

Not a bad idea at all...   I know I prefer to dine after.  (And nothing with a head on it, either.  )

--Bruce

No pork roast with apple in hog's mouth, Bruce? 

[karlhenning]

No Prophet Fricassee?

[Brewski]

No pork roast with apple in hog's mouth, Bruce? 

No Prophet Fricassee?

Of course the Hitchcockian side of me would say, "SURE!" 

--Bruce

[Superhorn]

  I've adored his music since I was a teenager, and feel that he's actually a very underrated composer, having been subject for so long to witheringly dismissive comments about some of his works by so many critics, particularly his later operas, such as Die Schweigsame Frau(The Silent Woman), Friedenstag, Arabella, Die Agyptische Helena,Intermezzo,
 Daphne, and Die Liebe Der Danae, which I've gotten to know better and enjoy in recent years.
  I love the description of listening to Der Rosenkavalier as "drowning in chocolate". I love chocolate,too.
  Yes, Strauss is musical chocolate, but you won't get fat listening to his music !
  Try his little-known but deliciously decadent ballet score "Josephslegende" (The legend of Joseph.)
 about the famous Biblical incident of Joseph and  Potiphar's wife. This is like gorging on a tray of
 lucious pastries !  There are recordings by Sinopoli/Dreseden on DG and Hiroshi Wakasugi and a Japanese orchestra on Denon ,and the Kempe/Dresden set has excerpts. But I don't know if the first two are still available.
  The final Strauss opera, Capriccio, is a curious but delightful work , and is an opera about the writing of an opera, and aristocrats, a composer and poet discussing the aesthetics of opera. Not much action, but the libretto is very witty,and full of in jokes, and the music is gorgeous.
  The are so many fine recordings of music by Strauss it's hard to know where to begin.!
 
 


   

[Brewski]

  The final Strauss opera, Capriccio, is a curious but delightful work , and is an opera about the writing of an opera, and aristocrats, a composer and poet discussing the aesthetics of opera. Not much action, but the libretto is very witty,and full of in jokes, and the music is gorgeous.
 

I was at Kiri te Kanawa's final performance of this opera (as the Countess) at the Met back in 1998, and agree that there is a lot of great music in it.  In the Met's staging of the final scene, when the character is gazing at herself in the mirror, they took out the mirror, so she was looking into the void, i.e., the future.  I thought it was very moving.

--Bruce

[Guido]

Just discovered Strauss' Deutsche motette via this CD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002PJ8AF6/ref=s9_simh_gw_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1NX39BVFEX1BERDDVXYV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294

 what an amazing piece! Incredibly beautiful. Didn't even know he wrote for unaccompanied voices.

[knight66]

It is strange; I thought I had written about this disc, but I cannot find it via search. The whole disc is beautiful and the choir is sensational. It is a short disc, but worth all the cost. The initial piece has been likened to the Tallis 40 part motet. There is some resonance between them, no doubt coincidental, but there is the ecstatic soaring of voices in common. The soloists are first rate. A favourite disc of mine.

Mike

[BMW]

Would like to buy Kempe's collection of the Orchestral Works but the latest EMI incarnation (which appears to be out of print) is a little too expensive on Amazon.  I did discover the set has been released by Brilliant Classics whose products I have not had any experience with -- should the Brilliant set be of the same aural quality as the EMI? (I am not as concerned with the physical presentation)

Is Kempe's the most comprehensive collection of Strauss' orchestral work?  Does anybody else even come close in one collection?

[Scarpia]

Would like to buy Kempe's collection of the Orchestral Works but the latest EMI incarnation (which appears to be out of print) is a little too expensive on Amazon.  I did discover the set has been released by Brilliant Classics whose products I have not had any experience with -- should the Brilliant set be of the same aural quality as the EMI? (I am not as concerned with the physical presentation)

Is Kempe's the most comprehensive collection of Strauss' orchestral work?  Does anybody else even come close in one collection?

I believe Brilliant may do some mild tinkering with the sound when they remaster, but I can't see that they'd have any motivation to make the sound worse.

[Lethevich]

Brilliant's profit margins are too small to afford to remaster CDs that sound good already, as the Kempe ones do. As to whether any other multi CD Strauss orchestral music set can compete with Kempe, certainly none I have seen reviewed seem to. There is a 7 CD Zinman set on Arte Nova, but the performances are apparently only servicable.

[kishnevi]

Brilliant's profit margins are too small to afford to remaster CDs that sound good already, as the Kempe ones do. As to whether any other multi CD Strauss orchestral music set can compete with Kempe, certainly none I have seen reviewed seem to. There is a 7 CD Zinman set on Arte Nova, but the performances are apparently only servicable.

Brilliant's issues of EMI opera releases use the most recent EMI remasterings, so I would assume the non-opera issues would follow suit.  Where they cut corners is in the very barebones packaging.  For instance, you need to download the libretto from Brilliant's website, and the librettos are only in the original language of the opera--no translations that I know of.   But assuming the packaging is a secondary consideration, they're one of the best-beckoning Brilliant bargains.

I find, btw, the Zinman set to be much better than serviceable; to my ears they vary from mainstream qood guality to excellent; the only two works I don't particularly like in that set--the Alpine Symphony and Sinfonia Domestica--are exactly the two works I like the least, so I'm not faulting Zinman with those.

Also, again, since it's a budget re-issue, it's one of those sets that are worthwhile investments even if you only like two or three works out of the whole set.

[david johnson]

you will need -
all the reiner/cso strauss
the newest pittsburgh symphony recording of the alpine symphony (marek janowski)
also pick up some toscanini and kempe versions of strauss
the operas as you see fit

enjoy
dj

[abidoful]

The real glory of Richard Strauss to be found in his operas, with some expectional compositions outside opera like the Metamorphosen and Lieder.

He also has a gorgeous violin sonata (in E flat, op.18).  Here's a recording of it;

[BMW]

you will need -
all the reiner/cso strauss

A copy of Reiner's Don Quixote from the local Wherehouse's going out of business sale is actually what turned me on to Strauss years ago -- I will keep an eye out for more of his Strauss...based on the recordings of his I have heard, I know he is one of the best when it comes to this sort of repertoire.
Thank you all for the suggestions (and the information on Brilliant);  I will get around to acquiring some combination of the above in the near future (i.e. when the budget allows). 

[jlaurson]

This is the main R.Strauss thread? That's hard to believe...

anyway, here we go:
Dip Your Ears, No. 104
Richard Strauss - Alpine Symphony - Haitink, LSO Live
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/07/dip-your-ears-no-104.html

[Guido]

Is there a recording of Ariadne I to be had? I can't seem to find one.

[jlaurson]

Is there a recording of Ariadne I to be had? I can't seem to find one.

Karajan

Levine

Solti

Masur

Karajan still in print, the other ones easily to be had used/new from 3rd party sellers. Only Sinopoli (perhaps my favorite) is oop and not easily had for little money.

[Drasko]

Only Sinopoli (perhaps my favorite) is oop and not easily had for little money.

http://www.amazon.de/Brilliant-Opera-Collect-Strauss-Ariadne/dp/B001RIGDHS