Richard Strauss recommendations please

[adamdavid80]

I have a Karajan Zarathustra, a Gould Sonata B minor and a Gould Burleske (coupled with Beethoven's Emperor Conceto).

[M forever]

That's it? Then you should definitely get the Kempe box. In addition to all of the tone poems and most of the other orchestral works, you get excellent version of the solo concertos, and all that in exemplary performances which are played so stylishly that Gramophone called that, very aptly, "played with almost arrogant authority", which basically means that they don't play the music as bombastic orchestral blockbusters, but as complex, lucid, and remarkably flexible chamber music. There just happen to be a lot more people involved than there normally are in chamber music, but that is only a question of numbers, not of the quality and nature of the music making. And Kempe shapes the music with a complete understanding for its "idiom" and the larger contexts. Which means that he doesn't try to make every single forte a spectacular highlight, but that he builds up over long stretches to the real climaxes.
Like I said, there are many, many very nice and competently done recordings of Strauss' orchestral music, but these here stand out very clearly.

[Wanderer]

"played with almost arrogant authority"

I like this description.

As for Burleske, adamdavid80, I'd further recommend the Argerich/Abbado version.

[Gustav]

Oy.  My wallets going to take a beating again.   

I have a Karajan Zarathustra, a Gould Sonata B minor and a Gould Burleske (coupled with Beethoven's Emperor Conceto).

you could sell your Karajan Zarathustra and gold sonata and Gould burleske on ebay, and use that money to get the Kempe Boxset.

[rappy]

No no, don't do that.
The Gould sonata is maybe the finest recording he ever made.

[adamdavid80]

"played with almost arrogant authority",

GREAT quote.  So much better than a recent review for the new Richard gere vehicle:  "It will make you want to fall in love."

as Stephen Colbert said, "Finally!  A reason to want to fall in love!!!!"

off to find the kempe!

[adamdavid80]

Annnnnnnd.....GOT IT!!!   Thanks!!!

[M forever]

That was fast. Did you order online or find the box in a shop? Did you get the complete green box with 9CDs?

[adamdavid80]

That was fast. Did you order online or find the box in a shop? Did you get the complete green box with 9CDs?

I am single-handedly keeping Academy Records on w 18th st ny ny flush during these though economic times!

A used set - all 9 discs, all in perfect conidition, as the box and book - was right in the window display, and I grabbed that sucker, all for the very reasonable price of $29.91 (really), plus tax.  God obviously loves me, as much as He loves those nuns you billed today!

[M forever]

I didn't actually bill them. Our office manager does that. I just brought Jesus back on screen. And that wasn't even that difficult. Because God in his infinite wisdom had decided to equip the video AD converter they had with a trimpot for horizontal sync adjust. He also gave me a test signal generator (actually, that was my senior colleague, but God worked through him, obviously). I turned the trimpot, but He guided my hand. Hallelujah!

[adamdavid80]

I didn't actually bill them. Our office manager does that. I just brought Jesus back on screen. And that wasn't even that difficult. Because God in his infinite wisdom had decided to equip the video AD converter they had with a trimpot for horizontal sync adjust. He also gave me a test signal generator (actually, that was my senior colleague, but God worked through him, obviously). I turned the trimpot, but He guided my hand. Hallelujah!

Hallowed Be Thy Senior Colleague's Test Signal Generator, indeed.

[adamdavid80]

Been spending the day listening to Disc 1's Horn Concertos... 0:)

[ChamberNut]

Been spending the day listening to Disc 1's Horn Concertos... 0:)

Love the Horn Concertos!  I just got the Kempe set a few weeks ago.  It really is fantastic, all around.  My three favorite works are Eine Alpensinfonie, Ein Heldenleben and Don Quixote.  Hope you enjoy the rest of the box set, Adam! 

[MishaK]

Please don't forget Gundula Janowitz's superlative Four Last Songs with Karajan/BPO on DG Originals. Pure magic.

Also, Birgit Nilsson as Salome with Solti/VPO.

Horn and Oboe Concertos and Duett-Concertino with the CSO principals and Barenboim/CSO on Teldec (of particular value here is the Oboe concerto with the incredible Alex Klein, who sadly had to retire prematurely due to focal dystonia).

Jacqueline Du Pre's Don Quixote with Sir Adrian Boult is an underappreciated gem that is my personal favorite.

Finally, what I've heard on the radio of Fabio Luisi with the Staatskapelle Dresden sounds absolutely stunning, especially Alpensinfonie and Heldenleben. If his recordings are half as good, they're worth getting.

[The new erato]

Lisa della Casa under Bøhm in 4 letzte Lieder

Capriccio (always the easiest to digest of his operas with its glorious tunes, related to the 4 letzte Lieder), either

Bøhm/DG (Arleen Auger, Anton De Ridder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gundula Janowitz, Karl Kohn, Hermann Prey, Karl Ridderbusch, Peter Schreier, David Thaw, Tatiana Troyanos) - actually playing now

or

Sawallisch/EMI (Schwarzkopf Wachter Gedda Fischer-Dieskau Hotter Ludwig Christ Moffo Schmitt-Walter Troy Philharmonia Orchestra)

Anybody liking the "Lieder", should try one of these.

[M forever]

Been spending the day listening to Disc 1's Horn Concertos... 0:)

Glad you enjoy these. Of course, I could have "warned" you about the pretty strong vibrato Damm uses, for some, that is somewhat an acquired taste, but I didn't, hehehe...
But apart from that, the performances are musically outstanding and his playing is just incredibly smooth and elegant, very lyrical and expressive. It sounds like it was really easy to play the horn when you listen to him playing.

An ideal supplement to these performances is this CD:



which contains the two horn concertos played on the Viennese F horn and the oboe concerto played on the Viennese oboe by principals of the orchestra - the only recordings available of these pieces played on these specific instruments, apart from a live recording of the 2nd concerto with Gottfried von Freiberg, who played the premiere - as well as the duet concertino.

[adamdavid80]

Glad you enjoy these. Of course, I could have "warned" you about the pretty strong vibrato Damm uses, for some, that is somewhat an acquired taste, but I didn't, hehehe...
But apart from that, the performances are musically outstanding and his playing is just incredibly smooth and elegant, very lyrical and expressive. It sounds like it was really easy to play the horn when you listen to him playing.

An ideal supplement to these performances is this CD:



which contains the two horn concertos played on the Viennese F horn and the oboe concerto played on the Viennese oboe by principals of the orchestra - the only recordings available of these pieces played on these specific instruments, apart from a live recording of the 2nd concerto with Gottfried von Freiberg, who played the premiere - as well as the duet concertino.

I LOVED the vibrato!  Wonderfully fluid playing, arresting, and, yes, with grace and elegance.  I can't even imagine the first without the vibrato...that MAKES the horn part and piece for me.  I also really appreciated some of the rhythms in the second movement.

I may be reading too much into it, but it seemed Damm was using a somewhat different technique for the second concerto...as if to express the amount of years and experience and development in between the compositions. 

What's the horn technique on the Previn like? 

[M forever]

What do you mean by that?

[adamdavid80]

Does it also use so much vibrato?  Did you recommend it as a sort of counterpoint to Damm's interpretation?

Oh, duh...wait...now I'm rereading your post and answering my own queston... 

[M forever]

Yes. The traditional Viennese horn style uses absolutely no vibrato. They play everything on the Viennese F horn instead of the double F/Bflat horns of many various types used by virtually everyone else which are much easier to play but their tone generally is less full and rich than the Viennese F horn which is the valve horn type used today which is closest to the sound characteristics of a natural horn. That doesn't mean it makes it the only "authentic" type of horn, but it does give it a high degree of "authenticity" when it comes to the music of the late 19th and early 20th century. Again, that's not the only traditional way of playing the horn. The Dresden sound used to be somewhat more bright and slender even before they started playing with vibrato, and they always aimed at producing a very flexible, "singing" tone even as can be heard on "pre-vibrato" era recordings of the orchestra. So the vibrato style that basically came - and went - with Damm's generation of players is not a stylistical break, but an extension of the traditional style. But I miss it a little bit since they use hardly any vibrato anymore - not only in Dresden, but in many other orchestras in Eastern Europe which were distinguished by their vibrato brass style, such as Czech, Polish, and Russian orchestras.
On that album, you can also hear the Viennese oboe with its markedly different sound. Basically, the Viennese oboe is the kind of instrument that used to be played in many parts of central Europe before the French system came into wide use in the early decades of the 20th century, even though many national schools still pursued their traditional sound ideals by using very different types of reeds and playing techniques. Now, you can hear it in Vienna and some other Austrian orchestras.