Richard Strauss's house

[vers la flamme]

Why did Offenbach have to catch a stray bullet there I'll confess that I don't know the Domestica very well, though I have two recordings of it. Perhaps I'll hear it again soon.

A Strauss work that I've been enjoying lately is the Oboe Concerto, prompted by my purchase of this excellent CD:



Very beautiful. I like Strauss's "Indian Summer" works of the postwar era.

[Maestro267]

I'd say because Domestica is egotistical as hell but then so is Ein Heldenleben. Still fantastic music though, on both counts.

[Roasted Swan]

I am not sure why Symphonia Domestica isn't played more often. It's noisy which might make it be considered as overblown but it's not as bad as Gaîté Parisienne.

SO easy to mix the two up......

[lordlance]

I was comparing the bombast of Domestica with Parisienne. Something even worse would be Stokowski's Aurora's Wedding Ballet Music - an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty - which is probably the worst bombastic piece of music I've heard. Parisienne gets grating so I have never finished it. Point is Symphonia Domestica isn't that bad.

Also I don't think the average concertgoing audience would mind a raucous piece at all. It might fare well.

[relm1]

Stokowski's Aurora ballet

What work??  You mean Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty??

[lordlance]

What work??  You mean Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty??

Edited for clarity.

[Roasted Swan]

What work??  You mean Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty??

Aurora's Wedding is in effect just Act III of Sleeping Beauty.  It was Diaghilev who chopped that act from the complete ballet.  A notable feature of the original score is the different instrumentation Tchaikovsky used for that act.  I don't know to what degree Stokowski tweaked that scoring - probably a bit as was his want but I don't get a sense that it was major reconstructive surgery.  So if you find the ASct bomastic probably blame Tchaik not Stowky

[lordlance]

Doing an orchestralsurvey of Strauss of sorts:

1. Symphonia Domestica:

a. Zinman/Tonhalle Zurich

Zinman conducts the piece to the point of being underwhelming. Almost feels rushing it. Not good. More troubling though, about 10:00 in the last movement, the music reaches a cathartic climax and you're thinking it's all going to end gloriously. But no he just doodles for two minutes afterwards. Feels like a rock band riffing too long. It just sounds like not knowing when to end. There's the unorthodox effect of what sounds like a clothwasher (?) in those last 3 minutes. But then the actual climax happens which is actually rather short. The last huzzah. And that is no match for what happened at minute 10. Dave might be right about Strauss not knowing how to end his pieces.

b. Mehta/BPO (Digital Concert Hall)

Rather unsurprisingly it's much better executed. BPO outclass Zurich. Rich sound. Not rushed. At the same spot as Zinman in the last movement (10:00), I knew the piece wasn't going to end so I was better prepared. I thought this isn't so bad. But nope then it kept going 3 or 4 times after I thought it would end. Yet again in noodling territory. Sigh.

II. Der Rosenkavalier Suite

a. Thielemann/BPO (Digital Concert Hall)
I have heard the piece multiple times and always felt lukewarm about it. The Thielemann doesn't change that. The long lyrical? middle part doesn't do much for me honestly (like most lyrical sections    )

[Maestro267]

Neeme Järvi has the best Domestica by a country mile.

[Roasted Swan]

Neeme Järvi has the best Domestica by a country mile.

Jarvi's Domestica is pretty special - it suits his 'give it both barrels' style and is recorded in vintage Chandos DDD sound.  But there are many other fine versions too I think - Szell's Cleveland recording on CBS/Sony is pretty terrifying in terms of how they play but Karajan on EMI - famous trumpet splat and all - is no slouch either let alone Reiner in Chicago.  In the company of these titans Zinman in Zurich does sound rather weedy in every regard.

[Symphonic Addict]

Sumptuous, ultra-colourful, unabashedly fun. Why did I wait for so long to hear this wonder? Probably not for everyone's taste (warning: not apt for diabetics), but I enjoyed every moment of it.

[Jo498]

One scathing Viennese critic commented on that piece: For Richard, I'd rather have Wagner, for Strauss rather Johann and for Schlagobers (= whipped cream) rather Demel's (a famous Viennese Café, or more precisely "k.u.k Hofzuckerbäcker") 

https://www.demel.com/

[LKB]

One scathing Viennese critic commented on that piece: For Richard, I'd rather have Wagner, for Strauss rather Johann and for Schlagobers (= whipped cream) rather Demel's (a famous Viennese Café, or more precisely "k.u.k Hofzuckerbäcker") 

https://www.demel.com/

I'll find an upload and listen to this tonight, tbh I've never even heard of the piece. Rather curious, since RS and l go back fifty years...

[Roasted Swan]

I'll find an upload and listen to this tonight, tbh I've never even heard of the piece. Rather curious, since RS and l go back fifty years...

Approach with diabetic caution - for those with a very sweet tooth only!  The catalogue does not lie - this Wagasuki disc is the only complete version of the score......

[Jo498]

I don't think I ever listened to the whole thing but there is suite? like the Rosenkavalier waltzes as filler and as I remember it doesn't fare well compared with the Rosenkavalier waltzes. Even wrt the latter, I am in the "if waltz then Johann (+ father and brothers) Strauss" camp.

[LKB]

I don't think I ever listened to the whole thing but there is suite? like the Rosenkavalier waltzes as filler and as I remember it doesn't fare well compared with the Rosenkavalier waltzes. Even wrt the latter, I am in the "if waltz then Johann (+ father and brothers) Strauss" camp.

There's a suite, I listened to it on YouTube about two hours ago.

Frankly, most of what l heard had already been done better by Strauss before. The word that kept popping up in my mind was, " unnecessary ".

One exception: Early on Strauss has some very tightly written passages, composed around a sort of flitting solo flute. While listening l thought, Sound's like he's trying to out- Firebird Stravinsky here.

But most of the rest seemed lackluster.

[SimonNZ]

Random RS thing:

I saw a concert that included the Four Last Songs a few months back, the first time I'd head/seen them live.

The tuba player had a mute. The first I'd known of large trumpet-like mutes for tubas.

[Roasted Swan]

There's a suite, I listened to it on YouTube about two hours ago.

Frankly, most of what l heard had already been done better by Strauss before. The word that kept popping up in my mind was, " unnecessary ".

One exception: Early on Strauss has some very tightly written passages, composed around a sort of flitting solo flute. While listening l thought, Sound's like he's trying to out- Firebird Stravinsky here.

But most of the rest seemed lackluster.

Excellent succinct summary......!

[LKB]

Excellent succinct summary......!

Thanks. 

And I am not really dissing Strauss that much for this piece, it just doesn't offer me the same value for my time as Don Juan, Vier Letze Lieder, Ein Heldenleben etc. Others will undoubtedly find more to enjoy.

In any case, I should try get through the full ballet at some point. For all I know, some enjoyable bits may have been left out of the suite. So I'll take another swing at Schlagobers down the road, but I think I'll need me some Metamorphosen first...

[Florestan]

Sumptuous, ultra-colourful, unabashedly fun. Why did I wait for so long to hear this wonder? Probably not for everyone's taste (warning: not apt for diabetics), but I enjoyed every moment of it.

Music right up my alley, Cesar! Many thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware of it!