Tone Poems

[DFO]

IMHO, the greatest symphonic poem is
Tchaikovsky's Manfred, one of his best orchestra
piece with 6th.symphony.

[ChamberNut]

My favorites (so far) are:

Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition (piano original or Ravel's orchestrated)

Strauss, R. - Also Sprach Zarathustra; Ein Heldenleben

Dvorak - The Wild Dove; The Noon-Day Witch

And perhaps other ones for which I didn't realize were categorized as tone poems.

[trumpetmaster]

My favorites (so far) are:

Mussorgsky - Pictures at An Exhibition (piano original or Ravel's orchestrated)

Strauss, R. - Also Sprach Zarathustra; Ein Heldenleben

Dvorak - The Wild Dove; The Noon-Day Witch

And perhaps other ones for which I didn't realize were categorized as tone poems.

figures i'd find you on this thread...   


I love all of Richard Strauss Tone Poems...
     Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben are alot of fun to play!

Regards,
TM   

[Christo]

Perhaps we should mention that some of Villa Lobos' Choros might count as symphonic poems, and are slightly more Brazilian yet. 

Of course, Villa-Lobos! I wouldn't rank the Choros as tone poems, and there's no need either, as he wrote at least a handful of genuine examples. The ones that I know being: Amazonas (1917), Uirapuru [an Amazon bird] (1917), O Papagaio do Moleque (The Kite of the Guttersnipe, 1932), Erosão (Erosion, 1950), Dawn in a Tropical Forest (1953), Gênesis (1954).

The third one mentioned above, O Papagaio do Moleque, was on a Brazilian LP with live recordings from some "Villa-Lobos Conducting Competetion" associated with the name of Koussevitsky [Foundation?] as well, that I heard in my teens and made a strong impression on me. I never heard it since and am not aware of any modern recording (but didn't really check, will do so now).

EDIT: O Pagaio do Moleque exists in a historic recording of Villa-Lobos himself conducting the Symphony of the Air, to be found at this rare CD:
               
                                     (The others are included in the Marco Polo CD above, that I should like to play again.)

[M forever]

Hey did you know there are like half a dozen of Isle of the Dead paintings? Check this out.

Aha! I didn't know that. I saw the one in Berlin and remember thinking, hmm...that looks different from the reproduction I have seen...but I don't have a very exact visual memory, so I thought I had just remembered it incorrectly. Apparently I didn't. The reproduction I have seen was probably of the Leipzig version.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Aha! I didn't know that. I saw the one in Berlin and remember thinking, hmm...that looks different from the reproduction I have seen...but I don't have a very exact visual memory, so I thought I had just remembered it incorrectly. Apparently I didn't. The reproduction I have seen was probably of the Leipzig version.

I thought there were two versions, didn't know there were like 4 or 5. Also I thought the two versions were day and night, but apparently the differences are quite staggering, like the cave opening in different places. Awesome painting though, almost as good as the music itself, and that is saying something.

[M forever]

How do you compare a piece of music and a painting, two works of art from completely different disciplines? And conclude one is "almost as good" as the other? How almost? 92%?

[PerfectWagnerite]

How do you compare a piece of music and a painting, two works of art from completely different disciplines? And conclude one is "almost as good" as the other? How almost? 92%?

Yeah that was pretty stupid. Put it this way, the music is about 18 minutes long and the painting pretty much held my attention for about that long so I guess it is pretty good.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Zemlinsky ~ Die Seejungfrau

[eyeresist]

Hey did you know there are like half a dozen of Isle of the Dead paintings? Check this out.

Very interesting, thanks. Fans of this painting might be interested to know that Val Lewton produced a film called Isle of The Dead (inspired by the painting), and a reproduction of the painting appears in his film I Walked With a Zombie.

[The new erato]

Zemlinsky ~ Die Seejungfrau

Yep!

Zemlinskys Seejungrau (Chailly, Decca)
Reger Bøcklin suite (Jærvi, Chandos)

Superb works and recordings. The first movement of the Reger is a thing of outstanding beauty.

[The new erato]

.....

[Tapkaara]

Who is the greatest writer of tone poems in your opinion? Strauss? Liszt? Dvorak? Sibelius? Someone else?

For me, it is Sibelius. He is able to evoke worlds of ancient mystery in his tone poetry that, for me, is unsurpassed.

Anyone else?

[Lethevich]

I go for Sibelius too, especially the later ones which seal the deal (The Oceanides, The Bard). In addition to those mentioned on your list my other favourites are Bax, Karłowicz and Tchaikovsky.

[Tapkaara]

I go for Sibelius too, especially the later ones which seal the deal (The Oceanides, The Bard). In addition to those mentioned on your list my other favourites are Bax, Karłowicz and Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky has certainly written some good one, and I am familiar with Karlowicz. I have had lots of trouble getting in Bax's tone poems; I think he is better at symphonies, but that's just my thought.

Speaking of Sibelius's later tone poems, it's Tapiola that seals the deal for me. That work really is a stroke of genius. It's virtually symphonic in scope, especially if you compare it to Sibbe's 7th. And that strikingly weird orchestration...

[Lethevich]

I forgot about him because he isn't known for the form - but Elgar produced 3 superb tone poems (all titled "concert overture"): Froissart, Cockaigne (In London Town), In the South (Alassio).

All are magical Romantic works, at times resembling his contemporary Strauss.

[ChamberNut]

Sibelius, Dvorak, yes they are great.

However, it is Richard Strauss for me by a country mile!  0:)

[vandermolen]

Interesting thread. For me:

Bax
Liadov
Sibelius
Nielsen
Holst (Egdon Heath)
Alfven

[val]

To me, Strauss composed the greatest tone poem: Don Quixotte.

But in general, I prefer Sibelius. More subtle, with more variety and fantasy.

[Tapkaara]

To me, Strauss composed the greatest tone poem: Don Quixotte.

But in general, I prefer Sibelius. More subtle, with more variety and fantasy.

What do you mean by more subtle? There is no subtlety in Strauss? Or less of it?