BaL 21.09.24 - Strauss: Don Quixote

[oliver sudden]

Karajan /Fournier is wonderful, (and what a marvellous sleeve illustration!) and also Fournier/Krauss, an old Decca LP produced in Vienna by Victor Olof.

Big fan of the Krauss DQ and indeed of his Heldenleben.

The DQ holds a very special place in my listening history. Like I suppose most people my age I didn’t listen to LPs for a good many years in the period when CD was pretty much the only game in town. One day I was visiting a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and he happened to have a very fine turntable setup. He put on this very record and I sat dumbfounded. Such a clear audio picture in front of me, I could almost see exactly where every instrument was coming from. An immediacy I’d never had from a CD.

And it was quite some years before the penny dropped that that was and is a mono recording.

[smittims]

All those Clemens Krauss Strauss recordings were classics and well-received at the time, culminating in Salome,the first complete recording of a Strauss opera. They were all recorded in the Musikvereinssaal by Victor Olof who was a Krauss fan, and who, like Walter Legge, had learnt how to make a mono recording suggesting space and depth.

Krauss' death was a major factor in Olof's move to EMI, where, when he could,he took them to Vienna ro record.

[Pulcinella]

Bumping, in readiness for today's instalment.

PS: 'Winner' added also to original post.

Recommended version:

Recommended version
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Antonio Janigro (cello)
Milton Preves (viola)
Fritz Reiner (conductor)
RCA Living Stereo 09026 68170-2

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I listened to the broadcast today, as I struggled to get through the York bypass (A64). I nearly choked every time I heard the words “Don Quick Soat”.

[Pulcinella]

I listened to the broadcast today, as I struggled to get through the York bypass (A64). I nearly choked every time I heard the words “Don Quick Soat”.

Surely not from our esteemed makropulos?

[Retune]

Also in the final selection, Previn/VPO and Zinman/Tonhalle. Zinman was the top choice in Hugo Shirley's survey in Gramophone a couple of years ago, with Reiner as his classic choice.

[oliver sudden]

I listened to the broadcast today, as I struggled to get through the York bypass (A64). I nearly choked every time I heard the words “Don Quick Soat”.

I have to confess to being fairly unbothered by this… if I understand right the Spanish pronunciation of the x has changed since Cervantes’ time anyway, so I am personally quite happy Anglicising it.

[makropulos]

I listened to the broadcast today, as I struggled to get through the York bypass (A64). I nearly choked every time I heard the words “Don Quick Soat”.

I really didn't mean to cause you pain! QUIXOTE was a consensual editorial decision by the producer, presenter and me. The often-used KIHOTI is neither fish now fowl – it's not that close to the original Spanish (which is more like Kee-HO-té (the O short as in hot, but the syllable that's emphasised). More to the point, Strauss would have called it something like KVIXOT and we weren't going down that route. So we decided on a fully anglicised version. I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive! :)

[makropulos]

I have to confess to being fairly unbothered by this… if I understand right the Spanish pronunciation of the x has changed since Cervantes’ time anyway, so I am personally quite happy Anglicising it.

Thanks – that was very much our thinking – see my reply to Eine Alpensinfonie.

[vinteuil]

... very happy with the English pronunciation of kwiksot.

My understanding was the 'x' in the Spain of Cervantes' time (unlike modern Spanish) wd have been pronounced more like a 'sh' - so the French Don Quichotte is probably closer to the original.

(And I think in English Don Juan shd be Djoo-un rather than Hwan... )

.

[richardfinegold]

Bumping, in readiness for today's instalment.

PS: 'Winner' added also to original post.

Recommended version:

Recommended version
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Antonio Janigro (cello)
Milton Preves (viola)
Fritz Reiner (conductor)
RCA Living Stereo 09026 68170-2

I’m in Bordeaux so I will have to raise a glass to the triumph of my hometown orchestra , albeit of 70 years vintage. I have that record and enjoy it but I prefer Szell. Did it get a mention?

[oliver sudden]

... very happy with the English pronunciation of kwiksot.

My understanding was the 'x' in the Spain of Cervantes' time (unlike modern Spanish) wd have been pronounced more like a 'sh' - so the French Don Quichotte is probably closer to the original.

(And I think in English Don Juan shd be Djoo-un rather than Hwan... )

.

X is still ‘sh’ in Catalan. I was pleased to see Xostakóvitx filed under X when I visited the Barcelona fnac many years ago. (I forget whether they had any Xtxedrin.)

Quixote is spelt Quichotte in Rosenkavalier. So maybe Strauss might have pronounced it in the French style anyway?

[Wolfram]

I have to confess to being fairly unbothered by this… if I understand right the Spanish pronunciation of the x has changed since Cervantes’ time anyway, so I am personally quite happy Anglicising it.

The most important thing is that the final recommendations were all thoroughly worthy choices. Excellent BaL, which has set the bar high for the coming season.

[LMcD]

Does anybody else remember a 6-part 1970 ITV series starring Ian Hendry as Don Quick?

[Pulcinella]

X is still ‘sh’ in Catalan. I was pleased to see Xostakóvitx filed under X when I visited the Barcelona fnac many years ago. (I forget whether they had any Xtxedrin.)

Quixote is spelt Quichotte in Rosenkavalier. So maybe Strauss might have pronounced it in the French style anyway?

In the libretto I have (ENO Opera Guide 8), the Marschallin's lines are:
Gewiss! O sicherlich dem Vetter seine Kinder, die werden keine Don Quixotten [sein]!
The 'translation' (or rather the English version, by Alfred Kalisch; I've no idea if it's what ENO use, but I'd imagine so) makes no reference:
Of course. I'm sure no child of yours would ever find it hard to endure such consolation.