BaL 22.01.11 - Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

[Alison]

William Mival. Hmm, didnt much enjoy his Bruckner 5 selection.

Each to their own etc ...

[Alison]

Chance for you to reclaim your lost Kauto money, Alison, I'll bet my shirt on RPO/Kempe.

Actually Ive never heard that one. I do always love my London orchestras, with a particular affection
for the RPO, so I wouldnt go all grumpy if that were selected :)

I should get that one anway really.

[Daring Tripod]

Sorry for my bloomer Petrushka. I should have known better, seeing I'm also a great Haitink fan. Two in one day (the other was a mistype on another thread!). I'm slipping.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I very much enjoyed the performance in the 2009 Proms by Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Fabio Luisi. I don’t know the work at all well but I thought this performance created a wonderful atmosphere for the occasion. Or it may have been the other way round. Either way, I thought it was a memorable performance.

I was there too and it was a fine performance, with incredible momentum. The only disappointment was the lack of off-stage horns, which (I understand, though I wasn't there) were used in the 2010 Prom performance of the same work.

Here's a useful list of just about every available version:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/27265/Richard-Strauss-Eine-Alpensinfonie-Op-64

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That said, I havent checked who is reviewing.

It's William Mival

[Alison]

To put another slant on it, which is your favourite COVER for the Alpine Sympony ??

E A, your avatar looks rather like the Philips artwork for Haitink.

[amateur51]

To whet your appetite for BaL, here's a snippet from a live performance by the BPO conducted by Miles Malleson, oh I apologise, Semyon Bychkov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK7z2NhUrsQ

If an important criterion is that the performance should blow your socks off, I have to report that my slippers wind up behind my computer and my socks don't come back to earth for at least 4 hours whenever I watch this clip

[Petrushka]

To put another slant on it, which is your favourite COVER for the Alpine Sympony ??

E A, your avatar looks rather like the Philips artwork for Haitink.

There aren't many that don't include a picture of a mountain (Kempe/RPO, Thielemann, Jansons and Strauss himself don't) and on that basis I think the VPO/Previn is especially good. The Dutton CD featuring the 1941 Strauss recording carries a painting of the composer at the conductors podium in 1929 by Wilhelm Victor Krausz. For avoiding the obvious I like this one best.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Strauss-Conducts-Alpine-Symphony/dp/B00005V324/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1295203553&sr=1-10

[pastoralguy]

No one has mentioned the SNO under Neemi Jarvi on Chandos yet so I'll vote for that one if only as a reminder of the time I heard them play it in the Usher Hall in the 80's with every horn player in Scotland employed!

I actually played in the Scottish premiere of this work in the 80's when I was a young violin student.

Super piece.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There aren't many that don't include a picture of a mountain (Kempe/RPO, Thielemann, Jansons and Strauss himself don't)...

The Kempe CD issue does have the dullest cover, but the RCA original had a magnificent picture of the Matterhorn. Not very authentic though , as Strauss's tone poem depicts the Bavarian Alps.

[Petrushka]

The Kempe CD issue does have the dullest cover, but the RCA original had a magnificent picture of the Matterhorn. Not very authentic though , as Strauss's tone poem depicts the Bavarian Alps.

I never had the Kempe LP but I do remember seeing the album cover in a catalogue. I went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1987 and saw the Zugspitze. I also went to Hitler's Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden where, despite the 80 degree temperature down below, there was snow and ice. The scenery was simply breathtaking, beyond belief awesome and I am reminded of that day when I listen to the Alpensinfonie even though I actually consider it to be more of a 'birth to death ' piece than a nature ramble.

[ostuni]

I enthusiastically second amateur51's recommendation of that BPO/Bychkov extract on youtube: those horns! Those contrabass trombones (2 of them)!! Utterly magnificent.

[Flay]

Thanks for highlighting this, EA. I will always be grateful to you for bringing this fantastic work to my attention back in 2009. Prior to that I knew little Strauss, apart from the oboe concerto and the inevitable Also Sprach. I attended the 2010 prom - I was spellbound (although it did not come over well on the radio due to poor mixing). There were no off-stage horns in 2009, were there?
I don't own a recording yet - let's see what is recommended.

[Petrushka]

I enthusiastically second amateur51's recommendation of that BPO/Bychkov extract on youtube: those horns! Those contrabass trombones (2 of them)!! Utterly magnificent.

Agreed. It's enough to make me pay up for a day ticket on the BPO Digital Concert Hall so I can watch the entire performance from the archive.

[Threni]

A piece I know very little of and need to know better, I think I have a recording by zinman out of a box set of orchestral works, sounds ok but again, don't really know the work... Yet!

I would like to hear it live before listening to it on record, get to know it bests then!