Richard Strauss's house

[TheGSMoeller]

Should you want another version of this one, I'd highly recommend the Solti/Decca version (if you don't already have it).

I second this, Solti/Decca is the one I listen to.

[jlaurson]

I second this, Solti/Decca is the one I listen to.

Hmm... I vote for Sawallisch/EMI, actually. Or wait until Thielemann/WPh comes out, which will be worth it for the orchestral contribution to one of Strauss' most imaginary scores. Not that either Boehm I (or Solti) are bad, by any means.

[TheGSMoeller]

Hmm... I vote for Sawallisch/EMI, actually. Or wait until Thielemann/WPh comes out, which will be worth it for the orchestral contribution to one of Strauss' most imaginary scores. Not that either Boehm I (or Solti) are bad, by any means.

When is Thielemann's being released?

[jlaurson]

When is Thielemann's being released?

Oh, probably later this year... around summer. Presumably first (or only) on blu-ray/DVD. (Unitel)


Phantasmorgastic, but with Shadows: FrOSch @ Salzburg — Notes from the 2011 Salzburg Festival ( 16 )

[TheGSMoeller]

Oh, probably later this year... around summer. Presumably first (or only) on blu-ray/DVD. (Unitel)


Phantasmorgastic, but with Shadows: FrOSch @ Salzburg — Notes from the 2011 Salzburg Festival ( 16 )

Ooo, a blue ray would be nice. Thanks, Jens.

[Mirror Image]

Hmm... I vote for Sawallisch/EMI, actually. Or wait until Thielemann/WPh comes out, which will be worth it for the orchestral contribution to one of Strauss' most imaginary scores. Not that either Boehm I (or Solti) are bad, by any means.

Bohm actually recorded this opera several times, Jens. This is his last recording of it and, from what I'm told, his most intense.

[Mirror Image]

Should you want another version of this one, I'd highly recommend the Solti/Decca version (if you don't already have it).

Thanks, Neal. I'll probably get Solti's (eventually).

[Mirror Image]

Would it be fair to call Elektra the precursor to Berg's Wozzeck?

[Karl Henning]

Is there only one precursor to the Berg?

[Mirror Image]

Is there only one precursor to the Berg?

Good point, Karl. Elektra sounds quite Expressionist though and had to at least influence Berg. I like this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/v/5cgDL5TWoj4

[jlaurson]

Bohm actually recorded this opera several times, Jens. This is his last recording of it and, from what I'm told, his most intense.

I don't know about 'several times', but at least twice. Live as the above (with Nilsson, Rysanek, King, Barry, Hesse
DG (live) ), and once in the studio...  with Rysanek, Hopf, Goltz, Schöffler, Höngen (Decca).
There's an unofficial cut that I've seen floating around on Opera D'Oro, I think... live from Vienna... with Christa Ludwig. If you count that, you'd have three.
All of them are cut... the only uncut performances (benefiting the Nurse most, whose role becomes the dramatic equivalent (and more) of the other four principals) are Solit, Sawallisch, and -when it comes out - Thielemann.

In fact, the production that Thielemann conducted in Salzburg (see link to review above) centered around that first recording of Boehm's... or perhaps both.

Christof Loy strips away the immediateness of the subject and introduces distance by going the route of opera-performance-within-opera-performance. He sets the story like someone who does not believe in the emotion that lies at the heart of Hofmannsthal's nostalgia-laced text, except on a superficial level. He describes and circumnavigates the core without feeling or touching it. The narrative is tied to the first complete* recording of Die Frau ohne Schatten with Karl Böhm in the winter of 1955 for Decca. Set (anachronistically) in Vienna's Sophiensaal, the space for many other very famous Decca opera productions in Vienna, it focuses on the stories of the performing singers (among them the 'innocent' newcomer Leonie Rysanek as the Empress and Elisabeth Höngen—a German star in the war-years (!) and a favorite of Karl Böhm as the manipulative nurse), and the analogies between their collegial relationships and the relationships of the characters in the libretto. ...

...Confusing might be that some elements of this, Loy's production, would easily fit the story of Karl Böhm's other, later performances and recordings in the late 70s: Birgit Nilsson as the blond 'foreign' singer (Dyer's wife)... except no longer new or an outsider, and two protagonists—Walter Berry and Christa Ludwig—as a famous married singer-couple... except then already divorced and she singing the part of the Nurse, not the Dyer's wife....

[Mirror Image]

I don't know about 'several times', but at least twice. Live as the above (with Nilsson, Rysanek, King, Barry, Hesse
DG (live) ), and once in the studio...  with Rysanek, Hopf, Goltz, Schöffler, Höngen (Decca).
There's an unofficial cut that I've seen floating around on Opera D'Oro, I think... live from Vienna... with Christa Ludwig. If you count that, you'd have three.
All of them are cut... the only uncut performances (benefiting the Nurse most, whose role becomes the dramatic equivalent (and more) of the other four principals) are Solit, Sawallisch, and -when it comes out - Thielemann.

In fact, the production that Thielemann conducted in Salzburg (see link to review above) centered around that first recording of Boehm's... or perhaps both.

Thanks for the info, Jens and I look forward to reading your article in the new issue of Listen: Life With Classical Music magazine.

[jlaurson]

Thanks for the info, Jens and I look forward to reading your article in the new issue of Listen: Life With Classical Music magazine.

:-) Well, I hope you will find them ("Rott" & "Spring") of merit... perhaps even entertaining.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Hmm... I vote for Sawallisch/EMI, actually. 

I'm a big fan of the Sawallisch, too. The sound I think is better as well, compared to Solti. More open for Sawallisch and colorful, which helps the score.

[Mirror Image]

:-) Well, I hope you will find them ("Rott" & "Spring") of merit... perhaps even entertaining.

[Mirror Image]

I second this, Solti/Decca is the one I listen to.

But have you heard this Bohm recording I bought?

[Lethevich]

Does anyone know why the naming for his Opus 86 is such a mess? I've seen it titled as:

Divertimento
Dance Suite
Verklungene Feste
Couperin Suite
Divertimento aus Klavierstücke von François Couperin

The latter seems most accurate, but I've never seen such a confusion of titles before. Do they refer to different versions? There is a similar lack of uniformity in the movement titles as well.

[jlaurson]

Good point, Karl. Elektra sounds quite Expressionist though and had to at least influence Berg. I like this scene:

Elektra influenced everything that came after 1909, directly or indirectly. It was one of the most important musical events and sort of an opening shot for the race to the 20th century. (In which Strauss would, intriguingly, not participate.) In that sense it's the mother of much that came after it... but I would not draw a direct line from Elektra to Wozzeck, or call it its precursor...

[mc ukrneal]

Does anyone know why the naming for his Opus 86 is such a mess? I've seen it titled as:

Divertimento
Dance Suite
Verklungene Feste
Couperin Suite
Divertimento aus Klavierstücke von François Couperin

The latter seems most accurate, but I've never seen such a confusion of titles before. Do they refer to different versions? There is a similar lack of uniformity in the movement titles as well.

Intriguing. Wiki calls it: Dance Suite for chamber orchestra after keyboard pieces by Couperin.

Here is a reference you may enjoy:
http://www.allmusic.com/work/dance-suite-for-small-orchestra-after-f-couperins-keyboard-works-oop-107-trv-245-av-107-c62301/description
Interestingly, the TrV number is the same, but some other numbers differ between the two sources.

Ah. but then I found this, which seems to explain the differences: http://www.answers.com/topic/divertimento-for-small-orchestra-after-f-couperin-s-keyboard-works-op-86-trv-245b

[johnshade]

Re: Thielemann's Fr-O-Sch (German word for frog; Strauss's nickname for Die Frau ohne Schatten)

When is Thielemann's being released?

I see the ad for the DVD in the April BBC Magazine, but no listing on Amazon. How long must we wait for the US compatible version (or will it ever be available)?