Richard Strauss's house

[kishnevi]

I know this is 6 year old quote but I would like to say that Elektra was my first Strauss opera and I immediately loved it. However, I agree that maybe you shouldn't start with Elektra. It is very shocking work, to be sure. After that I moved to Salome, which I loved even more, it is my favorite Strauss opera. Now, I haven't heard all of his operas but some neglected late works such as Die liebe der danae really work on me. Now for the part for which I am sure great many people will butcher me. I have only heard rosenkavalier oaged maybe I am just getting tone-deaf but I didn't enjoy it that much. The first act was so boring that I almost fell asleep. It is quite possible I need to hear it again a few times before I learn to appreciate it but it disappoints me a bit because this is often thought to be the one Strauss opera that is easiest to like. In fact, as much as I love Strauss, I often need to hear his works several times before I recognize more than couple melodies here and there and see the relative ease with how he handles orchestra etc. However Strauss is still a composer very close to my heart.

I have found most of Strauss's operas to be text sensitive, demanding a real time knowledge of what is being sung onstage. (Mozart is another, in contrast to others like Wagner and Puccini and early to middle Verdi with whom a general knowledge of the action is sufficient for enjoyment.  Late Verdi is like Strauss.). So either have a libretto close at hand or great fluency in German or DVD with subtitles.  In my case, Rosenkavalier was a bore until I saw it on DVD (Fleming conducted by Thieleman).

[Jaakko Keskinen]

The one and only time I saw rosenkavalier was only couple of weeks ago in opera. Maybe the production was a bad one? I liked the second and third act much more than the first.

[TheGSMoeller]

Happy 150th Birthday! 

[Karl Henning]

Happy 150th Birthday! 

Happy birthday, you cranky old humbug!

[Wanderer]

The new Thielemann Elektra (out on the 16th) is already pre-ordered.

[EigenUser]

"Richard, go compose!"

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Happy birthday ol' Dick!

[jlaurson]

Richard Strauss at 150
pix & concerts he conducted at the Wiener Konzerthaus


http://konzerthaus.at/magazin/Home/tabid/41/entryid/362/Richard-Strauss-zum-150-Geburtstag.aspx

[Sergeant Rock]

"Richard, go compose!"

Nee!...he'd rather play Skat than work.

Sarge

[jlaurson]

Nee!...he'd rather play Skat than work.

Sarge

I don't think he's playing Skat in that pic. But he is in one of the ones on the magazine post I put up for the Konzerthaus.

[TheGSMoeller]

In honor of Richard Strauss' 150th anniversary of his birth I will share my 10 favorite compositions along with my 10 favorite recordings of these works. I guess you could consider it Monkey Greg's Essentials of Strauss. I will post one per day and will include a brief description of why the piece is so meaningful to me and why I chose the particular recording to accompany it.
I will be doing this for two reasons, the first is to generate possible discussion on Strauss and his works. And second is to satisfy my own personal admiration of the composer that I have considered many times over my twenty-plus-years of listening to classical music as my favorite composer. Strauss' music played a large part in my introduction and eventual love of classical music, specifically his tone poems. But don't worry, I won't be picking 10 tone poems to fill my list. 
Anyway, please join me, and please feel free to create your own list. And remember that this more about celebrating the composer's career than comparing whose list or which piece is better.
I look forward to beginning my journey later this evening.

[Moonfish]

In honor of Richard Strauss' 150th anniversary of his birth I will share my 10 favorite compositions along with my 10 favorite recordings of these works. I guess you could consider it Monkey Greg's Essentials of Strauss. I will post one per day and will include a brief description of why the piece is so meaningful to me and why I chose the particular recording to accompany it.
I will be doing this for two reasons, the first is to generate possible discussion on Strauss and his works. And second is to satisfy my own personal admiration of the composer that I have considered many times over my twenty-plus-years of listening to classical music as my favorite composer. Strauss' music played a large part in my introduction and eventual love of classical music, specifically his tone poems. But don't worry, I won't be picking 10 tone poems to fill my list. 
Anyway, please join me, and please feel free to create your own list. And remember that this more about celebrating the composer's career than comparing whose list or which piece is better.
I look forward to beginning my journey later this evening.

Great idea Greg! Strauss is definitely worth our tribute!   

[Ken B]

FLS
Metamorphosen
Various lieder, especially the Dehmel settings, and the later ones
Oboe Concerto, Horn concerto 2


Where is Mirror Image to help me jeer at Monkey's top pick, Alpencerealsinfonie?

[TheGSMoeller]

FLS
Metamorphosen
Various lieder, especially the Dehmel settings, and the later ones
Oboe Concerto, Horn concerto 2


Where is Mirror Image to help me jeer at Monkey's top pick, Alpencerealsinfonie?

I cast you out, demon!  0:)

[Ken B]

I cast you out, demon!  0:)

The Frogsorcist? You want to cast out demons you need to go back to a Kinski. 

[TheGSMoeller]

10 Days, 10 Works - of Richard Strauss


1. Stimmungsbilder (Mood pictures) for Piano, Op. 9 (1884)

The earliest piece I will choose is from 1884, the Stimmungsbilder for Piano, Op. 9. The solo piano music of Strauss doesn't seem to make it in the spotlight often, the Op. 5 Piano Sonata has received the most attention, perhaps due to a very nice Glenn Gould recording. But it's the Stimmungsbilder that I feel needs to heard, it's the most comprehensively Romantic and at the same time comfortably enigmatic solo chamber piece from Richard. It's in five movements, beginning with a joyously delightful opening Auf stillem Waldespfad (In Silent Forests), followed by the poetic An einsamer Quelle (Beside the Spring) with its delicate raindrops, then arrives the unexpectedness of the slightly rambunctious Intermezzo. The Träumerei (Dreaming) and its trance like melodies would seem to be the perfect finale to a four movement piano piece, but its the mysterious and darkly toned Heidebild (On the Heath) that brings Stimmungsbilder to a close. Completed the year that Strauss turned 20 years of age, there is plenty of influences to be heard in his Op. 9, although I wouldn't necessarily say that it foreshadows the sounds of Strauss that he became well known for in the near future, to me it looks more into the past than what lies ahead. 

There are not as many recordings of Stimmungsbilder to choose from as compared to his tone poems, but the few I've heard are very well done. The Frank Braley performances on Harmonia Mundi demonstrate the beauty and technique of these works wonderfully, and his Stimmungsbilder is breathtaking, specifically in the Heidebild which timed at 5:30 is the slowest I've heard it, as Braley truly focuses on the mystique.

[asin]B0017TZ91I[/asin]

[TheGSMoeller]

10 Days, 10 Works - of Richard Strauss


2. Sonatina no 1 in F major, AV 135 for 16 Winds "Werkstatt eines Invaliden" (1943)

Strauss created some exhilarating music for winds instruments, with some virtuosic parts in both orchestral works and his various concertos (Horn, Oboe and the Duett-Concertino). In fact, I've always believed that Strauss has provided the Horn with it's best stuff: the two concertos, the shared opening melody to Ein Heldenleben and the multiple-octave ranging solo of Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche easily come to mind. He was also a master at furnishing the winds with some of the most intricate counterpoint, delivering an incredibly colorful background. So what better way to demonstrate this wind-writing ability than to give them their own spotlight, which he did in several works ranging from 13 to 16 winds instruments, from a single movement Serenade to a four movement Sonatina lasting almost 40 minutes. My choice of this lot is the Sonatina No. 1 in F Major for 16 Winds, scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, basset horn, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabasson and 4 horns, composed in 1943. Its three movement structure feels like a tiny symphony, with a lovely Romance and Minuet surrounded by two hastier and heftier ones that seem to be quite the challenge for the performers. There is some obvious Mozart influence going on in this Sonatina for winds, but it's the vibrant flair of Strauss' style that is on full display here along with some of the most pleasant and animated music from his oeuvre.

I feel confident in saying that the best performance of the Sonatina No. 1, and the rest of Strauss' music for winds is from the Netherlands Wind Ensemble conducted by Edo de Waart. Perfectly balanced, spirited and with clear sound quality so that no voice is hidden. A bonus of this disc is also getting Heinz Holliger's masterful recording of the Oboe Concerto with de Waart and New Philharmonia Orchestra backing him up.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

2. Sonatina no 1 in F major, AV 135 for 16 Winds "Werkstatt eines Invaliden" (1943)

+1. I love the two Sonatinas, although the version I have is a DG disc with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (haven't heard the Philips disc). It's refreshing to read about some of the out-of-the-way works of Strauss. When you said you'd be writing about more than just the tone poems you weren't kidding.

(Hope it's okay to post alternative recordings).

[Ken B]

+1. I love the two Sonatinas, although the version I have is a DG disc with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (haven't heard the Philips disc). It's refreshing to read about some of the out-of-the-way works of Strauss. When you said you'd be writing about more than just the tone poems you weren't kidding.

(Hope it's okay to post alternative recordings).

You risk the return of the frogsorcist.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

You risk the return of the frogsorcist.

The discussion is on so please do us a favor and blow.