BaL 26.11.22 - Strauss: Don Juan

**Nick Armstrong** · 14-11-22, 16:41

Cor blimey, Sir, that’s a long one

Thanks as ever for the efforts!

**pastoralguy** · 14-11-22, 16:54

Fantastic work, Alpie!

My introduction to Richard Strauss as a teenager. I can’t help but think of the thousands and thousands of hours violinists must have spent working at the first page! A real audition piece.

**Pulcinella** · 14-11-22, 17:04

Originally posted by Nick Armstrong View Post

Cor blimey, Sir, that’s a long one

Thanks as ever for the efforts!

I'm a little surprised not to see Bernstein in the list: I would have thought him quite well suited to the piece.
Seems that he didn't record much Strauss at all, though.

OK, Petrushka: come clean! How many on your shelves?
Only Dresden/Kempe here (there's not even a BBC MM one).

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 14-11-22, 18:16

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

OK, Petrushka: come clean! How many on your shelves?
Only Dresden/Kempe here (there's not even a BBC MM one).

I was wondering too.

I have this many times over, though only one (VPO/Karajan) was bought for the work itself. The rest were all couplings with another Strauss tone poem.

**Petrushka** · 14-11-22, 21:21

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

OK, Petrushka: come clean! How many on your shelves?

I've hopefully counted them all and it turns out to be 31. To be honest I thought it was more until I came across duplications between boxes (eg Jansons and Jochum).

Don Juan was the very first item I heard at a live classical concert (RPO/Kempe, May 1972) so it has a special place in my affections. Incidentally, there is/was a recording by Kempe and the RPO that I don't see on the list. It was recorded in May 1964 and originally issued on Readers Digest. There was a Chesky CD issue (coupled with an unexpectedly fine Symphonie Fantastique with the RPO and Massimo Freccia, of whom I've never otherwise come across). This same Kempe recording of Don Juan was also included in a Scribendum box, 'The Art of Rudolf Kempe'.

Despite having so many recordings there are two that, for me, stand out from the pack: Staatskapelle Dresden/Kempe and the 1970s BPO/Karajan. Both superb.

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 14-11-22, 22:01

Originally posted by Petrushka View Post

I've hopefully counted them all and it turns out to be 31. To be honest I thought it was more until I came across duplications between boxes (eg Jansons and Jochum).

Don Juan was the very first item I heard at a live classical concert (RPO/Kempe, May 1972) so it has a special place in my affections. Incidentally, there is/was a recording by Kempe and the RPO that I don't see on the list. It was recorded in May 1964 and originally issued on Readers Digest. There was a Chesky CD issue (coupled with an unexpectedly fine Symphonie Fantastique with the RPO and Massimo Freccia, of whom I've never otherwise come across). This same Kempe recording of Don Juan was also included in a Scribendum box, 'The Art of Rudolf Kempe'.

Despite having so many recordings there are two that, for me, stand out from the pack: Staatskapelle Dresden/Kempe and the 1970s BPO/Karajan. Both superb.

I think the RPO Kempe may still be available. Sometimes the Presto website (which is generally excellent) doesn’t specify the specific orchestra for individual works.

**cloughie** · 14-11-22, 23:32

[QUOTE=Petrushka;899511]I've hopefully counted them all and it turns out to be 31. To be honest I thought it was more until I came across duplications between boxes (eg Jansons and Jochum).

Don Juan was the very first item I heard at a live classical concert (RPO/Kempe, May 1972) so it has a special place in my affections. Incidentally, there is/was a recording by Kempe and the RPO that I don't see on the list. It was recorded in May 1964 and originally issued on Readers Digest. There was a Chesky CD issue (coupled with an unexpectedly fine Symphonie Fantastique with the RPO and Massimo Freccia, of whom I've never otherwise come across). This same Kempe recording of Don Juan was also included in a Scribendum box, 'The Art of Rudolf Kempe'.

Massimo Filippo Antongiulio Maria Freccia (19 September 1906 – 16 November 2004) was an Italian American conductor. He had an international reputation but never held a post as music director of a major orchestra or opera house. Unusually for an Italian, he built his career around symphonic music rather than opera.

I've only seen his recordings on Readers Digest recordings.

I counted my Don Juans at 70 and a similar number of Till Eulenspiegls - many but not all on the same CDs.

**Pulcinella** · 15-11-22, 07:03

Originally posted by cloughie View Post

...

I counted my Don Juans at 70 and a similar number of Till Eulenspiegls - many but not all on the same CDs.

Are you going to count them again when you're 75, cloughie?

**cloughie** · 15-11-22, 08:51

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

Are you going to count them again when you're 75, cloughie?

A merry prank Pulc! Maybe I need 5 more conquests!

**Barbirollians** · 15-11-22, 09:05

Originally posted by cloughie View Post

A merry prank Pulc! Maybe I need 5 more conquests!

I could be wrong but this seems like another work making a relatively quick reappearance on BAL.

**smittims** · 15-11-22, 09:20

Klemperer for me. I think he catches the swagger of the character exactly.

As for Bernstein, well, I think he wanted to be a master interpreter of Strauss, but the two men were so different that there was an unsuperable barrier of which Lenny himself may not even have been aware.

All I've read about Strauss suggests that he was a difficult man to sum up. At times he liked to present to the world a persona which was misleading or open to misinterpretation. Elgar did this too in later life .

**Barbirollians** · 15-11-22, 11:43

Originally posted by smittims View Post

Klemperer for me. I think he catches the swagger of the character exactly.

As for Bernstein, well, I think he wanted to be a master interpreter of Strauss, but the two men were so different that there was an unsuperable barrier of which Lenny himself may not even have been aware.

All I've read about Strauss suggests that he was a difficult man to sum up. At times he liked to present to the world a persona which was misleading or open to misinterpretation. Elgar did this too in later life .

I am rather fond of Lenny's Rosenkavalier .

**smittims** · 15-11-22, 11:56

Yes, I suppose that's an exception. I think he very much wanted to make that recording and even, I believe , had the Decca team brought in to do it. But then , he very much wanted to record with the VPO, a lifelong ambition. I aways feel that in his New York days Lenny was a big fish in a small pond (e.g. his Sibelius series), and often in his later European days he sounds more like the opposite (e.g. his Beethoven).

**cloughie** · 15-11-22, 12:50

Originally posted by smittims View Post

Yes, I suppose that's an exception. I think he very much wanted to make that recording and even, I believe , had the Decca team brought in to do it. But then , he very much wanted to record with the VPO, a lifelong ambition. I aways feel that in his New York days Lenny was a big fish in a small pond (e.g. his Sibelius series), and often in his later European days he sounds more like the opposite (e.g. his Beethoven).

Or maybe a big wasp on the big apple. The Decca sound on LP was always better than the more spiky CBS sound was was vastly improved when CDs were mastered from the originals and the few he did for Decca were excellent! However I don’t agree with you as most of his NY performances - I have most of them on the Royal edition acquired at reduced prices together with the blue containers from Tandy’s Records in Five Ways, Birmingham just before they sadly closed.

BaL 26.11.22 - Strauss: Don Juan

BaL 26.11.22 - Strauss: Don Juan

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