Richard Strauss: Orchestral music

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Saly, you really should write your memoirs. You must has seen/met more great musicians than anyone around today.

... I'd love to read Hornspieler's, too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Indeed!

[mercia]

and of course he conducted at Strauss's funeral.

there is a little bit of film of Solti reminiscing about the funeral on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1o6D1pTJqc

[makropulos]

I was heavily into Metamorphosen some years ago and acquired / tried most...

Extensive testing led to a surprising 'winner' for me - the performance by the Vienna Phil under .... André Previn (Phillips, nla.). It displaced the Karajan in my allegiance, it seems to let the music speak and breathe for itself more, to my ears.

I absolutely agree about the Previn/VPO Metamorphosen. I came across it by chance years ago and was deeply moved: it's a really extraordinary performance. My other cherished Metamorphosen is Klemperer/Philharmonia which I don't think has been mentioned yet.

[ahinton]

I admit I haven't read all of this but #1 states that RS died in 1945.

Actually I think it was 1948 as I saw him at the RAH, either in 1947 or early 48, standing beside the conductor,[?]. I was told later that there was a Strauss Festival and that's why he was here.

See #22. It was 1949, almost three months after his 85th birthday.

[Stephen Whitaker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MB4SQAtXFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewv-LihoWZU

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

Unexpectedly good performance although the camera isn't always pointing in the right direction.

I do think you need to have seen it performed to really appreciate how it works.

The opening is marked "Adagio ma non troppo" but it seems to me that most performances start "Troppo adagio"!

[salymap]

... I'd love to read Hornspieler's, too.

I think I'm lucky enough to have Hornspieler's already, as in the past he has emailed and phoned with fascinating stories of the BSO, music we both like, and other things.

Mine would be extremely boring. I saw Richard Strauss at the RAH, end of story. I didn't meet him or play in an orchestra.

[salymap]

Saly could the conductor have been Georg Solti?. There is a nice bit of film of Solti and Strauss at a rehearsal in London, Strauss taking the baton, GS pointing out where the sections were as Strauss' eyesight was poor...here's a still from it, can't find the film



There is a touching description of their first meetings at Garmisch in Solti's memoirs, and of course he conducted at Strauss's funeral.

I don't remember ever going to a Solti rehearsal. They were usually Sargent, Boult or Beecham.

Tommy charged two shillings and sixpence [ 12 1/2 pence] The others were free.Thanks for photo Richard.

[Thropplenoggin]

I listened to Ein Heldenleben by Bychkov (great name)/Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio de Cologne (WDR) today. There's an interesting review on Amazon.com about it, praising the amount of detail you can hear compared to older recordings (though, don't panic, he rates those classic versions, too):

If your concept of "Ein Heldenleben" begins and ends with Reiner, Karajan, Kempe or Beecham, you should give this CD a listen so you can hear everything you've been missing the past 30 years. Semyon Bychkov conducts an exciting, pulsating, passionate performance that will probably seem much faster than what you hear from the Big 4. Yet in actual timing, Bychkov clocks in at 46:51, Karajan EMI at 45:19, Karajan DG at 35:02 and Kempe at 44:22. So why does Byckhov sound faster? What differentiates this version in the crowded field of "Hero" recordings is the depth of the sound stage and how it matches the wonderful playing of the Cologne orchetra. While no one will mistake this band for the Berlin or Vienna philharmonics, they more than hold their own with bigger name orchestras and match Bychkov's biting, incisive approach note for note. Along the way you'll hear instruments you never heard before and a depth to timpani that adds dimension to the drama. Bychkov's rendition of "Metamorphosen" lacks the psychology Furtwangler and others bring to the music, but it -- again -- is so well recorded that one soon forgets classic versions to concentrate on the sound field. I owned five other recordings of "Ein Heldenleben" when I bought this. I tried and tried to find a reason to give this one away or sell it to resale; but each time I played it I found myself absorbed in Bychkov's sound world and drawn in by the epic tapestry. While he lacks the strength, human feeling and ecstasy Karajan brings to his EMI version and the warm understanding of Kempe, Bychkov has directed a CD that will compete with the best versions available today and tomorrow.

Might be interesting for those of you who know the work well.

It can be had for under a tenner, comes backed with Metamorphosen.

EDIT 1:

I see Bychkov has also recorded Eine Alpensinfonie - I wonder if our resident expert has it? Perhaps he would care to share his preferred choice in this work?

EDIT 2:

I can see why Caliban and others have praised the Kempe reading of Ein Heldenleben so highly. It's a slightly soupier sound, but the violinist is extraordinary, and there's an emotional warmth to it that, for all its incredible clarity, the Bychkov didn't have.

[Pianoman]

This is my favoured version of both pieces, superb playing and sumptuous recording, but above all the conductor's shaping of phrases and attention to detail without losing that all-important drama and momentum.

[Thropplenoggin]

...My other cherished Metamorphosen is Klemperer/Philharmonia which I don't think has been mentioned yet.

Thanks for reminding me of this: I have it and Tod und Verklärung on the same disc as his Mahler 9.

I have to say, I didn't react as readily to the all-string Metamorphosen as I did to Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht earlier in the week. As BBM says, I suspect it's a piece that requires a deal of getting to know.

The Tod und Verklärung, however, was a monumental performance and experience. In fantastic sound, too. Given that is accompanies a tremendous Mahler 9, this makes this a truly worthy GRoC.

So far, this and Ein Heldenleben have been the most "accessible" Strauss of my discoveries thus far.

[Hornspieler]

... I'd love to read Hornspieler's, too.

Anyone who would like to read my memoirs* is welcome to PM me with their email address and I will be happy to email a copy.

Some extracts have already appeared on these boards from time to time, but the whole work is too long to post here.

I can assure you complete confidentially (I will myself attribute the authorship to "Hornspieler") and I do not expect that anyone would agree with everything that I have written - but let's not argue about it on these boards.

HS

* The title of the work is "Bravo Maestro!"

[Ferretfancy]

I admit I haven't read all of this but #1 states that RS died in 1945.

Actually I think it was 1948 as I saw him at the RAH, either in 1947 or early 48, standing beside the conductor,[?]. I was told later that there was a Strauss Festival and that's why he was here.

Couldn't hear what he was saying but he was bending the conductor's ear as he queried things.

I'd just started going to rehearsals at 17 and didn't realise he was so important then

Saly

The Strauss Festival was in late 1947, Strauss flew to London in October, it was his first time in a plane! There were two concerts conducted by Beecham at Drury Lane, followed by Strauss himself conducting at the RAH. Perhaps the conductor you saw with Strauss was a rehearsal assistant.
The other famous RAH concert was of course the first performance in 1950 of the Four Last Songs, with Kirsten Flagstad and Furtwangler. Sadly, by that time the composer had died. I have that performance on CD, and although the sound is poor, something of the sense of occasion comes across.

How marvellous for you to have seen that rehearsal!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Strauss Festival was in late 1947, Strauss flew to London in October, it was his first time in a plane! There were two concerts conducted by Beecham at Drury Lane, followed by Strauss himself conducting at the RAH. Perhaps the conductor you saw with Strauss was a rehearsal assistant.

Possibly even Norman Del Mar, who was iIrc in the Horn section of the Philharmonia at the time, but already keen on a career as a conductor. He absolutely worshipped Strauss, producing a three-volume study of his life and work, and always commenting favourably on Strauss' orchestration in his two books on the subject - no other composer is so highly-praised in these excellent books!

[Nick Armstrong]

I can see why Caliban and others have praised the Kempe reading of Ein Heldenleben so highly. It's a slightly soupier sound, but the violinist is extraordinary, and there's an emotional warmth to it that, for all its incredible clarity, the Bychkov didn't have.