Richard Strauss's house

Started by Bonehelm, March 24, 2008, 09:47:19 PM

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jlaurson


Classical CD Of The Week: Domestic Violins & Four Last Songs for Chorus

It's easy to be dismissive about Richard Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica, with its purported or actual
depiction of his eggs sunny-side-up for breakfast, afternoon nap, and a digestive movement (ma
non troppo). And although it's likely Strauss was deliberately poking fun at the symphonic tradition
with his juxtaposition of the most banal topicality, he didn't compose his 9th (of 10) tone poem
just as a lark...


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/27/classical-cd-of-the-week-domestic-violins-four-last-songs-for-chorus/



Scion7

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

johnshade

#622
I would also like to listen to Ein Heldenleben, Alpensinfonie, 4 Last Songs ....

New Yorker Cartoon (Side Eight is last 20 min of Karajan LP version)
The sun's a thief, and with her great attraction robs the vast sea, the moon's an arrant thief, and her pale fire she snatches from the sun  (Shakespeare)

jlaurson

#623
The 1st version of Feuer-Snot (about dangers of Rhinitis), was not well received, but a clever libretto-change fixed it.

More horrible Strauss-opera puns on Twitter at: #UnknownStrauss

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: jlaurson on August 21, 2016, 01:01:37 PM
The 1st version of Feuer-Snot (about dangers of Rhinitis),

;D :D ;D ...a most unfortunate title for an opera.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"


snyprrr

began writing at 6? :laugh:

I don't knjow how i got on Strauss... oh yes, I stumbled over 'Metamorphosen' and remembered he was supposed to be a BadBoy at one time... anyhow, what could I possible want here beyond the ubiquitous Karajan? I've tried the Philips 2CD with a bunch of wind material, Alpine... a few things which I could never get into. I think I have 'Don Juan' somewhere... and a song or two in a mix...

never have really listened to 'Thus Spake...' all the way through... or anything all the way through...


eh?


btw- Strauss's Haus, not "house", c'mon people let's get it together!!!

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: snyprrr on March 26, 2017, 05:08:25 PM
began writing at 6? :laugh:

I don't knjow how i got on Strauss... oh yes, I stumbled over 'Metamorphosen' and remembered he was supposed to be a BadBoy at one time... anyhow, what could I possible want here beyond the ubiquitous Karajan? I've tried the Philips 2CD with a bunch of wind material, Alpine... a few things which I could never get into. I think I have 'Don Juan' somewhere... and a song or two in a mix...

never have really listened to 'Thus Spake...' all the way through... or anything all the way through...


eh?


btw- Strauss's Haus, not "house", c'mon people let's get it together!!!

Kempe recorded a ton of Strauss with Dresden. Can't go wrong starting here...


[asin]B00FJZQRR6[/asin]

SurprisedByBeauty

Quote from: snyprrr on March 26, 2017, 05:08:25 PM
began writing at 6? :laugh:

I don't knjow how i got on Strauss... oh yes, I stumbled over 'Metamorphosen' and remembered he was supposed to be a BadBoy at one time...


The bad-boy was the Strauss of Elektra & Salome. Really, really edgy stuff -- even still today but certainly in its time. Racy and haunted by the censors, especially in Austria-Hungary/Vienna. Also harmonically, it's wild.

Though when you listen carefully (and the Elektra-Suite that Honeck put together; reviewed in the above Forbes article), even in Elektra you find the essence of the sweet mellifluousness that would come next, with Rosenkavalier.

If you are not into opera, then Strauss is not as important a composer to you... but still grand and quite wonderful. I think Don Juan and especially Till Eulenspiegel are excellent in every way and great starting points. ("Thus spake" can be a bit tedious and long, actually.) Tod & Verklaerung / Death & Transfiguration belongs to that group of early-to-middle tone poems, and is very different in mood; hinting more of the late, melancholic Strauss (i.e. the 1945 Metamorphosen; if he was a bad boy then, it's only because he had been loosely associated with the Nazis); in any case, it (T&V) is also a beauty. All three of them are very, very good with the early Karajan, I find.

I have a REAL weakness for the Alpine Symphony; some ridicule it but I think it's quintessential Strauss; totally engrossing and lush and I've never heard a better recording - sound or playing - than that of (surprise!) Bernard Haitink with the (surprise again) LSO! (See Best of 2010)

Some of the late concertos are wistully beautiful, too... but before all that I'd recommend the Sextet (culled from the opera Capriccio, where it serves as the overture). If that doesn't pull on your heartstrings, then you may well turn your back on Strauss. But it will!





vandermolen

I've never had anything nice to say about Richard Strauss so here goes:
I like the 'Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra' which I first heard accompanying a section on the sculptor Auguste Rodin in the TV series 'Civilisation'. Very powerful, dramatic and memorable music.
[asin]B000003D0A[/asin]
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: vandermolen on September 26, 2017, 09:40:09 AM
I've never had anything nice to say about Richard Strauss so here goes:
I like the 'Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra' which I first heard accompanying a section on the sculptor Auguste Rodin in the TV series 'Civilisation'. Very powerful, dramatic and memorable music.
[asin]B000003D0A[/asin]

Glad you enjoyed it!   ;D
However, the Festival Prelude is the fourth best piece on that disc there.  ;)

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: vandermolen on September 26, 2017, 09:40:09 AM
I've never had anything nice to say about Richard Strauss so here goes:
I like the 'Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra' which I first heard accompanying a section on the sculptor Auguste Rodin in the TV series 'Civilisation'. Very powerful, dramatic and memorable music.
[asin]B000003D0A[/asin]

That's good news about Strauss, Jeffrey  ;D

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on September 26, 2017, 11:09:58 AM
However, the Festival Prelude is the fourth best piece on that disc there.  ;)

Amen!! ;D
Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Parsifal

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on September 26, 2017, 11:09:58 AM
Glad you enjoyed it!   ;D
However, the Festival Prelude is the fourth best piece on that disc there.  ;)

:(  A great piece, especially as conducted by Bohm.

[asin]B00002DF9N[/asin]

vandermolen

Thanks guys  :)
I recently bought the 'Alpine Symphony' so maybe there is hope for me yet.
I have often liked composers whose music is supposed to be influenced by Richard Strauss (Vitezlav Novak for example) rather than Strauss himself. Opera is something of a blindspot for me which doesn't help I guess. I will listen to the other music on the Telarc CD. The Bohm set looks good.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on September 26, 2017, 10:13:23 PM
Thanks guys  :)
I recently bought the 'Alpine Symphony' so maybe there is hope for me yet.
I have often liked composers whose music is supposed to be influenced by Richard Strauss (Vitezlav Novak for example) rather than Strauss himself. Opera is something of a blindspot for me which doesn't help I guess. I will listen to the other music on the Telarc CD. The Bohm set looks good.

The work that 'sealed the deal' with me concerning Strauss was his Four Last Songs. You can hear this composer's heartbeat in this music (figuratively speaking of course ;)). Check out the Jessye Norman/Masur performance on Philips. It can probably be had for a mere deutsche mark now. :)

Parsifal

Quote from: vandermolen on September 26, 2017, 10:13:23 PMThe Bohm set looks good.

As long as you are tolerant of old recordings...

vandermolen

Quote from: Scarpia on September 27, 2017, 09:35:58 PM
As long as you are tolerant of old recordings...
I'm quite a fan of historic recordings.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Jaakko Keskinen

My new top 5:

Die Liebe der Danae
Salome
Tod und Verklärung
Alpensinfonie
Josephslegende

Danae and Josephslegende are really underrated works.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

TheGSMoeller

Gramophone explores Alpine Symphony recordings, follow the Twitter link below. A nice listing of performances spanning almost a century, not surprised by their top choice, but I was thrilled to see the positive mention of the Frank Shipway and Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra's recording on BIS. In a post here on GMG from last October I said the SPSO "play their hearts out", and for the magazine Hugo Shirley writes that they "play out of their skins for him (Shipway)".


https://twitter.com/GramophoneMag/status/952099162241282049