Richard Strauss's house

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

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Mirror Image

I just cancelled the order for that Strauss Brilliant set. I'm disillusioned about Strauss now. :)

Mirror Image

Another thing that bothers me about Strauss, and this maybe just in my own mind and not in anyone else's, but some of the ways he ends musical passages, like for example the slow movement of the Oboe Concerto, is just so cliche sounding. I like musical passages that end in either unexpected ways or ways you didn't think about them ending in. Of course, there are more examples than just the Oboe Concerto, but he wasn't too clever was he? :) Like, for example, I'm listening to Bliss' A Colour Symphony right now and even though many of the harmonies are rather straightforward and by today's standards 'conventional,' he still ends musical passages in different ways, changes things up, and adds some little twists here and there.

I know, I know...I'm just a broken record tonight with my endless parade against Strauss, but I'm merely pointing out things that I'm trying hard to look past, but they're just stopping me in my tracks and irritating me.

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 18, 2013, 08:09:49 PM
...but he wasn't too clever was he? :)

For me there's cleverness to burn...in his operas. Two sets that might prove that to you, MI:



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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

Trout

#323
Ein Heldenleben seems to get a bad rap as people tend to think of it as a bombastic Strauss work. But I think people miss the humor in the work- that the work is mocking the over-the-top Romantic heroism and is full of jokes and ironic drama. I can understand humor being difficult to convey in music, but it is one of the funnest pieces to listen to, for me.

Brahmsian

Quote from: Trout on November 18, 2013, 10:10:09 PM
Ein Heldenleben seems to get a bad rap as people tend to think of it as a bombastic Strauss work. But I think people miss the humor in the work- that the work is mocking the over-the-top Romantic heroism and is full of jokes and ironic drama. I can understand humor being difficult to convey in music, but it is one of the funnest pieces to listen to, for me.

It is one of my favourite of Strauss' symphonic poems.  Hearing it performed live was an incredible experience!

Brahmsian

Kyle and John,

Thank you for at least appreciating Strauss' music, even though it was here and gone faster than Halley's Comet.  :laugh: :)

Cheers my friends.  :)

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 03:06:08 AM
Kyle and John,

Thank you for at least appreciating Strauss' music, even though it was here and gone faster than Halley's Comet.  :laugh: :)

Cheers my friends.  :)

:D
The polarizing power known as Richard Stauss.

Karl Henning

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 03:04:34 AM
It is one of my favourite of Strauss' symphonic poems.  Hearing it performed live was an incredible experience!

Aye, hearing it live at Symphony was a game-changer.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: kyjo on November 18, 2013, 05:51:14 PM
. . . I'll be keeping my Strauss avatar unless my reactions to those works are also lukewarm, though.

I still see Strauss there, so I am guessing you're doing all right.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Brahmsian

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 19, 2013, 04:35:21 AM
:D
The polarizing power known as Richard Stauss.

Certainly.  Outside of Wagner, I can't think of another composer who has that degree of polarization effect (being the you either love his music or despize it)?  :-\

Brahmsian

Quote from: karlhenning on November 19, 2013, 04:40:16 AM
Aye, hearing it live at Symphony was a game-changer.

Any live Strauss, R., for that matter.

I've had the pleasure of attending live performances of:

Ein Heldenleben
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Death and Transfiguration
Don Juan
Horn Concerto No. 2

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 05:29:35 AM
Any live Strauss, R., for that matter.

I've had the pleasure of attending live performances of:

Ein Heldenleben
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Death and Transfiguration
Don Juan
Horn Concerto No. 2

Great lineup, Ray. Especially nice to see the Horn Concerto programmed.
I will see the Oboe Ct. later this year live, along with Metamorphosen which will both be firsts for me.

Sergeant Rock

#332
Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 05:25:04 AM
Certainly.  Outside of Wagner, I can't think of another composer who has that degree of polarization effect (being the you either love his music or despize it)?  :-\

Wagner and Strauss: love or hate. That's certainly the case in the Rock Haus.

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"

Brahmsian

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on November 19, 2013, 05:41:14 AM
Wagner and Strauss: love or hate. That's certainly case in the Rock Haus.

Sarge

:D

Your wife hates both Wagner and Strauss, I gather?  ;D

Brahmsian

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 19, 2013, 05:33:55 AM
Great lineup, Ray. Especially nice to see the Horn Concerto programmed.
I will see the Oboe Ct. later this year live, along with Metamorphosen which will both be firsts for me.

Both the Oboe Concerto and Metamorphosen would be excellent, I'm sure, to hear in live performance.

I am crossing my fingers that one day I will get to attend a live performance of Eine Alpensinfonie.  That would be quite something!  :)

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 05:29:35 AM
Any live Strauss, R., for that matter.

I've had the pleasure of attending live performances of:

Ein Heldenleben
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Death and Transfiguration
Don Juan
Horn Concerto No. 2

Me, I haven't heard Strauss live very often; Mrs. Rock is not an enthusiastic Straussian and I won't often torture her  ;)

Elektra Solti/Covent Garden
Salome Lombard/Opéra national du Rhin
Death and Transfiguration Szell/Cleveland, Tennstedt/Cleveland, Celibidache/SP Rheinland-Pflaz
Also sprach Zarathustra Tennstedt/Cleveland
Oboe Concerto Tennstedt/Mack/Cleveland
Metamorphosen Maazel/Cleveland
Don Juan Maazel/Cleveland
Alpine Symphony Luisi/Dresden


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"

mc ukrneal

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 05:25:04 AM
Certainly.  Outside of Wagner, I can't think of another composer who has that degree of polarization effect (being the you either love his music or despize it)?  :-\
I actually find this a stunning statement. Except for a few people on this forum, I don't anyone who doesn't admire or at least respect the works of Richard Strauss. THere are some who feel he made wrong decisions in his personal life, but this has nothing to do with the music.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: ChamberNut on November 19, 2013, 05:44:29 AM
:D

Your wife hates both Wagner and Strauss, I gather?  ;D

She likes Fliegende Holländer (because it's closer to Weber than later Wagnerian music drama) but I can't think of a single work by Strauss she likes.

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"

Karl Henning

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on November 19, 2013, 06:05:25 AM
She likes Fliegende Holländer (because it's closer to Weber than later Wagnerian music drama) but I can't think of a single work by Strauss she likes.

Sarge

Dutchman is fun, and partly because of the transparency of the influences.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Brahmsian

Quote from: mc ukrneal on November 19, 2013, 06:04:05 AM
I actually find this a stunning statement. Except for a few people on this forum, I don't anyone who doesn't admire or at least respect the works of Richard Strauss. THere are some who feel he made wrong decisions in his personal life, but this has nothing to do with the music.

Oh, ok.  Just my perception, which may be skewed.  It just seems that many enjoy Strauss' music, and some loathe it.  Not many in betweeners, I find.  Again, my perception of members' views on GMG.