Repertoire: The IDEAL Strauss Tone Poems List--All Twelve!
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2020
- The exact number of tone poems that Richard Strauss wrote is subject to some debate, but I decided to be inclusive and so you'll find Aus Italien, Metamorphosen, and even the Dance of the Seven Veils from "Salome" in this comprehensive chat about exceptional recordings. Taken together, they will give you a series with no weak links whatsoever, and provide plenty of opportunities to expand your horizons.
Love your passion for the music, inspiring and wholesome!
Thank you for that indormation. Dance of the Seven Veils is always a hoot! I most always stay with my Reiner recordings, since I like them so much, but, I do enjoy many others.
Great video, David! I love your selections, and your editorial asides even more!! I prefer the more lyrical Alpines... you are right about Strauss' fallible dramatic instincts, but I do love the ending of Alpine... everything after the Thunderstorm is some of my favorite orchestral writing ever...
My picks:
Aus Italien: Muti (Philips)
Macbeth: Maazel (DG)
Death and Transfiguration: Honeck (Reference Recordings)
Don Juan: Kempe (EMI)
Till Eulenspiegel: Szell (Sony)
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Steinberg (DG)
Heldenleben: Haitink (Philips)
Don Quixote: Rostropovich/Karajan (EMI)
Symphonia Domestica: Reiner (RCA)
Ein Alpensinfonie: Kord (Accord)
Metamorphosen: Klemperer (EMI)
Great list!
Oh, that Reiner Domestica is one of my great guilty pleasures. The Chicago brass go completely over the top in the finale. You can hear that famous Living Stereo recording just collapse under Herseth's top notes. I think Szell is better paced overall but, Lord, Reiner is fun.
My list as well!
Dave, I very much hope that you’ll do the best and worst of Strauss’ tone poems in separate videos in the future. I just returned to your executive summary here, as I am preparing for a performance of Macbeth tomorrow and - of course - you directed me to gold again. My main comments are on the Metamorphosen, however, and since you included Ormandy and Philadelphia elsewhere, I thought I would recommend his recording of the Metamorphosen. It’s among the few pieces that - because it is so close to my heart - I have listened to endlessly, doing my own comparisons of the various recordings, which are remarkably different for their tempi and dynamics. Ormandy, in my view, nailed them. I really wanted to be converted by the Suitner you picked - after all, I live in Dresden - but he “only” makes for a runner-up for me and I was wondering how these two recordings compare for you. Perhaps, you felt you didn’t want to list Ormandy twice? Finally, just another thank-you note for directing me to Ormandy’s Salome. It’s one of my favourite operas. I thought I knew this dance, but I stand corrected. Ormandy makes percussion and woodwind instruments come forward that I didn’t even realise were there. He does so by reducing the strength of the strings, which normally cover the other instruments more. This is a Michelin star recording. You taste all the ingredients and they perfectly come together. How can Ormandy be so underrated? I’ve yet to listen to a dull performance under his baton. Thanks again 🙏
Hi Dave. Thanks for once again a great video.
Just wanted to let you know that your vids are causing quite a stir at a certain Israeli classical music Facebook page. You’ve become the main topic of several posts and it’s a lot of fun.
Some one even created a couple of memes of you which I think are hilarious. Will send them to you privately, if I only knew how to do that using UA-cam🤔
Thanks for the tip! Looking forward...
As a horn player in high school band, I always wondered about our role. After hearing Don Juan, I remember thinking that this was what we were all about. A defining moment for me.
As a horn player myself, well said!
I found Suitner's Metamorphosen rec. for 2€ on Edel - Berlin Classics budget label - it turned out to be a revelatory performance as you said and also coupled with a brilliant performance of Hindemith's Metamorpfosis. So glad you recommended it!
I will try to find a copy of the Dohnanyi death and transfiguration you mention. It appears to be put of print, but hopefully I can find one. As of now I favor Szell/Cleveland in that work. What a beautifully moving piece of music.
Between Karajan and Kempe, I haven't felt much need to expand my sources. They're both so good and convincing that I have never been listening and thought "gee, I wonder if there's a better interpretation out there."
Personally, I think Karajan can't be beat in the Zarathustra, Metamorphosen (especially the digital 80s) and Alpensinfonie. That 70s analog Zarathustra in particular really ruins the listener for other recordings. But Kempe's "Dons" are wonderful, too, and the recording quality on the recent remaster is superb!
Zubrin Mehta did a wonderful Alpine Symphony both times. Up there with Karajan.
I saw Don Quixote with Kempe and Tortelier at the Royal Festival Hall. Moving, beautiful, dramatic, musical, unforgettable.
These exercises are impossible to disregard. So much fun putting these lists together. No duplications of conductor or orchestra.
Aus Italien: Fabio Luisi
/ Staatskapelle Dresden (Sony)
Macbeth: Antal Dorati / Detroit Symphony (Eloquence)
Death and Transfiguration: George Szell / Cleveland (Sony) - I was a high-schooler when Szell and Cleveland came to town (Tucson, AZ) and opened my world to great orchestral music with this piece.
Don Juan: Fritz Lehmann / Berliner Philharmoniker (Regis)
Till Eulenspiegel: Herbert Blomstedt / San Francisco Symphony (Decca)
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Fritz Reiner /Chicago Symphony Orchestra (RCA - remastered superbly by Pristine)
Heldenleben: Semyon Bychkov / WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln (Avie)
Don Quixote: Lorin Maazel/Steven Isserlis / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (RCA)
Symphonia Domestica: Neeme Järvi / Scottish National Orchestra (Chandos)
Ein Alpensinfonie: André Previn / Vienna Philharmonic (Telarc)
Metamorphosen: Heinz Holliger / Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Phillips) -- coupled with a wonderful Oboe Concerto
Most of Strauss' Tone Poems can be described thusly: "Like a Liszt Tone Poem, only better.." Excellent!
Interestingly, I came across a recording of Strauss conducting his Also Sprach Zarathustra in 1944 with the VPO on UA-cam, and I don't know if it was the poor quality of the recording, but he did the "TAA...TAA...TAA...TAADAA" part in the beginning in the same fashion as Karajan. Which is infinitely better than what the rest does.
My favorite Straussian director is Karajan at DECCA EMI & DGG. As for Suitner, he seems to me to be a great director without a doubt and everything I have heard under his baton has a very high level.
I love "Aus Italien" for its ridiculous usage of "Faniculi, Fanicula". It's so much fun. Mahler really liked "Don Quixote" and so do I. I also completely agree with your Tortelier/Kempe/Berlin pick for "Don Quixote".
Hey, I quite like Solti's Eine Alpensinfonie. It was fun to see the nod.
Besides - here my list:
- Aus Italien: Muti. Although Ashkenazy is very good and better recorded, I like the youthful freshness Muti gives the score. In a way, he makes it "italian".
- Macbeth: One of my favourite Strauss-poems. Well, I would like the darkly brooding recording of Lorin Maazel, but I need Maazel for the "Domestica". So I propose Antal Doratis rough recording with the Detroit Symphony.
- Don Juan: Szell without question.
- Tod und Verklärung: Thanks that you rescue the work, it's better than one might guess. It's one of the few works, where Strauss' timing works. Again, I have no new ideas: Dohnanyi. (I need Karajan for later.)
- Till Eulenspiegel: Karl Böhm / Berliner Philharmoniker - I always thought, the work would do better with a chamber orchestra. Böhm manages that the big orchestra sounds qick, light and colourful like a chamber orchestra, but has the weight for the climaxes.
- Zarathustra: Steinberg / Boston - what a brass sound! And Steinberg paces the work very well, in my opinion.
- Heldenleben: No real new ideas, that must be Reiner.
- Don Quixote: My least loved Strauss-tone poem. I cannot understand, how a compose of this statue can have the idea of a viola and the bass clarinet, two of the noblest and most decent timbres, as Sancho. This is now Ormandy for me, because he interprets it as an elegant comedy and makes the instrumental colours of Sancho for me more acceptable.
- Seven Veils: Klemperer / Philharmonia - oh, that percussion! And the crazyness of the woodwinds! Maybe, Ormandy makes a great show (he does, and I like that), but Klemperers Salome is the sister of Stravinskis "Rite of Spring"-girl. Never heard anything like that!
- Domestica: Here is Maazel, as announced. The only recording, which lets me bear this work.
- Alpensymphonie: I like this piece, especially "Auf dem Gipfel", when Strauss makes no triumphant statement, but creates the sound image of infinite wide view. This moment always remembers me on Mahler, and sometimes, I guess, that Strauss thought at this moment on his friend Mahler, with whom he made tours in the mountains, and I question myself, if this moment could be a late gift of friendship, and the music of the mountains becomes very human. The conductor, which brings this nearer to me than any other is Antoni Wit with the Staatskapelle Weimar. Oh, that beginning! It's absolutely fantastic!
- Metamorphosen: I do not know yet the Suitner (but I will). But now is my choice Karajan with Berlin, the last recording. I know, it's a little slow, but the string playing is marvellous, and it is sheer beauty and bittersweet farewell.
If one wants to have them all in one superb box, then get Kempe - and that's my trick to invokehis name in this connection. Moreover, in the box is the short version of the "Josephslegende", and this you must hear when you want to know, how the Strauss-orchestra sounds like!
Thank you for this one Dave!
Reiner's tempi tended to be on the quick side, which is ideal for Ein Heldenleben. I also heard that Reiner's Don Juan was recorded in one take.
9:16 I've wondered whether Death and Transfiguration might be performed less frequently than other Strauss tone poems because it wears the taint of Wagner more, perhaps, than his others. Of all the Strauss tone poems, this is the one that leaves me staring, awestruck and enraptured, at my speakers. You point out how well-structured it is. My take is that it's a strong piece because it isn't overly busy, but rather focuses without distractions on where it's going.
13:56 I sometimes listen to Zarathustra skipping over track 1 with the 2001 fanfare, as a character test. The fanfare is essentially thematic exposition, which could've been done as simply as, for instance, the opening phrase of Beethoven 6; but that's not the kind of music that was in the air by Strauss's time.
When I got into Classical music early on, I was a sucker for just about anything Romantic sounding. And I bought A Hero’s life and the Alpine Symphony. I still think they’re worthwhile, although I haven’t pulled the LPs out since the ‘70s. I’ve heard them now and then on the radio and rather enjoyed them. But, honestly, I can live without. However, yesterday I heard Zarathustra on the radio by Karajan. I agree with what you said about starting it out with that great, dynamic opening and the things you pointed out, like the violin solo and such. Still, it’s very moving despite all that. I kinda soured on it after the crass use of it in the wretched 2001 Space Odyssey film. Of course, that wasn’t Strauss’s fault. But I was young and naive. As to the other Tone Poems, I loathe Til Eulenspiegle (spelling?). Death and Transfiguration is pretty good. I’ll have to revisit Metamorphosis. I think I liked it. To sum, I can generally take or leave Strauss. One caveat, some of his songs are just utterly beautiful! I like his horn concerto and some chamber music I’ve heard. He WAS a great “second level” (however he put it) composer indeed.
I'm just wondering if Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Divertimento shouldn't have to be included! I happened to stumble into a second hand wonderful DG disc of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra which I like very much!
For a similarly speedy Metamorphosen performance I enjoyed Petrenko and Berlin Phil live on the digital concert hall. There’s also a live recording on UA-cam with strings of a Paris orchestra I believe. He manages to highlight the individual parts more and makes it less turgid.
Thank you, David, for your helpful reviews. You have mentioned Christoph von Dohnanyi. What do you think about his 'Salome' with Malfitano and Terfel? Is it flawless?
Metamorphosen is a work I adore, but I really know it from the septet version which was discovered in the 1990s. My ideal version - and perhaps the leaner ensemble helps - is anything but turgid, and in fact I want that central section to sing and soar. There, it seems to me, the music is intensely passionate and a good performance MUST let us hear that. It also seems to me that once you do hear it rendered in this way, the idea of the piece as (simply) a lament - that idea no longer works. Yes, it's about loss, but it's also ecstatic, full of yearning and love. I recently staged a concert here with the Brodsky Quartet plus three and boy - did they get it right! Fantastic.
I had no idea there was a different arrangement…any recommended recordings?
My absolute favourite is Schwarzkopf/Szell, their interpretation flows and keeps open the magic box. It’s never just playing the notes, but they coincide with the music. You can hear wonderfully when Strauss makes use of dissonances and lets them resolve in the appropriate places.
The tympani in the 73 Karajan are perfect... great presence... not muddy or boomy.
Don Quixote is my personal favorite. My favorite is with Karajan (can't remember where it came from, I think I saw it on youtube). The Alpine Symphony is a close second in my opinion.
Very worthwhile discussion! Ideal recordings don’t really exist. Thank God because if they did we wouldn’t try new ones! My choices begin with Don Juan. I don’t know Macbeth but will have to!
For DJ there are so many from which to choose, so I’ll go along with Szell (also love Reiner and Blomstedt/SF.)
Till - has to be Solti/CSO. What terrific playing and shows that Solti has a sense of humor after all. (V. Petrenko/Oslo is also wonderful)
D&T - Kempe/SD
Also Sprach - Karajan/BPO (also like Solti)
Heldenleben -Reiner/CSO (though Blomstedt is also great)
Don Q - Petrenko/Oslo Phil (the best since Szell and Reiner, my earlier favorites)
Domestic - Mehta/Berlin PO (Janowski is also good)
Alpine - Blomstedt/SF
Metamorphosen - I rarely listen to it, have it by Blomstedt on the same CD as Heldenleben and it’s fine)
Wow, didn't see the Haitink on Eulenspiegel coming, especially since Haitink is not the flashy type. Of course, it makes me glow as an Amsterdam-based RCO lover. I think my teacher is in that recording.
Dave, greetings from the Penal Colonies. Thanks for imparting a degree of flexibility to this exercise as it so easily could become a Karajan or Reiner Festival. Here is my list. One should also note that here we have an instance where the composer himself has recorded some of his own works. Strauss when he was not focused on the post-concert card-game - was a seasoned conductor.
Aus Italien - Muti and the Berlin Phil.
Macbeth - Maazel VP
Don Juan - Szell
Death and Transfiguration - Kempe Dresden
Till Eulenspiegel - Strauss himself with the Vienna Phil, 1944.
Also Sprach - Karajan ‘73
Ein Heldenleben - Reiner Chicago.
Don Quixote - Du Pre & Boult
(as much as as I want to mention Karajan and Fournier)
Seven Veils - Solti
Sinfonia Domestica - Furtwängler
- which is better than Strauss' own recording from 1944
Alpine Symphony - Thielemann
- again, from memory, is there not a recording of Strauss conducting the Alpine Symphony himself somewhere?
Metamorphosen - Karajan DG Digital
Strauss was generally a terrible conductor of his own music. He said that it bored him, and the results show it. That's why Furtwängler's wretched performance is better.
@@DavesClassicalGuideI must be the last Furtwängler-ian left on the planet! BTW, Dave, thanks for sparing us the necessity of having to nominate a performance of that dreadful Olympic Hymn which is a genuine potboiler. Best wishes, B
@@bernardohanlon3498 When it comes to the Domestica you probably are. Are you REALLY saying that you haven't heard a better performance than that (and you've heard the others for comparison)? I mean, really?
@@DavesClassicalGuide i am a Karajan man in Sinfonia Domestica but I tried to abide by the broad rules of the thread. I am not alone in my appreciation of Furtwangler over the likes of ZInman. We move on.
@@bernardohanlon3498 That was not my question, but never mind.
Mr. Hurwitz,
Would you consider making a video to review Strauss’ Parergon zur Sinfonia Domestica? This is my second favorite Strauss work behind his Drie Hymnus.
Thank you for your enjoyable videos and excellent insight.
Kindest regards,
Brian Melkowits
Thanks for your suggestion. I will consider it, but it's not major Strauss and there aren't enough recordings to justify a video of it's own. So I will have to find an angle.
I appreciate it the difficulty of giving its own video. Perhaps it could be rolled up into a sequel video of piano and orchestra miniatures with other twentieth century pieces such as the Faure Fantasie, Op.111 or the Finzi Eclogue, Op.10?
I'm late to the game here, but I'm watching this while working from home and "A day in the life of an Alp" actually has me laughing out loud.
By the way, there are two Till Eulenspiegels: the first by Strauss, but an interesting slightly later one by Strauss' friend (well, "frenemy") Nikolaus von Reznicek as well.
Yes, I know. It's on CPO with the Violin Concerto...
"Metamorphosen" for me is a musical equivalent of Hesse's Demian - nobody captures the elegiaic profundity and the transcendental quality in the music better than Karajan (DG 1983) and Fürtwängler (DG 1947).
I absolutely agree with your choice of Karajan for Zarathustra. His first Berlin recording is truly a remarkable performance. Also, not pointing out that you missed it out, just as a matter of discussion - Antal Dorati did a very good Zarathustra with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Decca Digital) coupled with an equally good Macbeth. It was the first performance of both I heard as a kid. Also, it’s a pity that as much as Szell was an admirer of Strauss, he never once recorded Zarathustra. Would have loved to hear him do it with either the Concertgebouw, Berlin or even Cleveland. What do you say Dave?
What is there to say? He didn't do it.
You know your Dons quite well - can’t beat Szell for Juan and Kempe for Quixote, although Szell is great there, too. I love almost all of Dick Strauss’s tone poems, but the sinfonia domestica is the only quasi-standard rep piece with four dubiously scored saxophones and the depiction of an actual human climax. I have not heard any of the Maazel recordings, but will check it out. There are some eclectic big boxes featuring multiple conductors (labels escape me) which are fun for anyone who likes Strauss enough to play Russian Roulette with each performance.
The Maazel box with the Bavarian RSO is in a 5 CD box and is superbly recorded.
I love that Strauss was self-deprecating enough to (accurately) call himself "a first-rate second-rate composer". He was a high-class hack at times with some works that clearly rise above that status.
Hey David, love your videos! What do you think of the Tennstedt, London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1982, Death and Transfiguration on Warner classics?
Thanks. What do you think of it?
@@DavesClassicalGuide I bloody love it, but slightly biased cos generally the LPO with Tennstedt are one of my faves
@@sebastiancarpenter4846 Well, then, you have the only answer that matters, although I appreciate your reaching out. Honestly, there are many, many good recordings of D&T--I haven't heard this one in ages, but I remember enjoying it for its spontaneity and easy flow.
Is it wrong for me to consider Aus Italien to be Strauss' third symphony rather than the first tone poem? It's somewhat transitional, but it reminds me more of the 2nd Symphony than the later poems, despite its programmish elements.
Yes. It's WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! No, of course it's not wrong. You may think of it in whatever way suits you best. I can certainly see the point.
Rather than do a full list (Macbeth: Muti etc), could I mention a couple of favorites? Great as Tortelier/Kempe are, I have a soft spot for Maazel with Steven Isserlis (RCA) in Don Quixote. Isserlis's nobility suits it so well, and the recording of the Bavarian RSO is super. It's probably cheating, but Solti / VPO's rendition of the Dance of the 7 Veils from his complete Decca Salome is a knockout. Otherwise, I'll stick with Kempe, Reiner and Karajan, and a terrific Alpensymphonie from Blomstedt in San Francisco (Decca). This is such fun!
Do you plan to update this video to include some newer Strauss releases? Since you uploaded this video, SWR Classic has issued a box with Roth's Hanssler series. Also, just this year, DG issued a new Nelsons box. If you would like to do a survey of Strauss tone poem cycles in the future, could you consider covering these cycles?
I will cover them individually, if I do decide to talk about them.
I had completely forgotten about Macbeth
hello David, thank you for your wonderful work of dissemination, when you talk about Ormandy you mention the dance of the seven veils but the album is "Ein Heldenleben (A hero's life)" maybe it's me who doesn't understand?
I'm not sure I understand your question.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I apologize for the English translation, but it seems that when you talk about the "Dance of the seven veils" contained in Salomé you show Ormandy's album with "Ein Heldenleben (A hero's life)" but maybe it's me who doesn't understand well.
Great picks. I'd still go with Karajan's '59 Decca version of Zarathustra used in the 2001 movie though, flaws or not.
Its the best version without a doubt, the the bell has have never sounded as good
The "Art of Conducting", a Teldec DVD, has a filmed segment of Strauss deadpan conducting Till Eulenspiegel with the VPO in 1944. He looks so bored that you expect him to start looking at his watch. (I'm sure you've seen it.) Was Strauss that uninterested in conducting or does it just appear that way? How was he perceived by the orchestras he conducted?
He was pretty uninterested (in his own music, at least).
What do you think of Andris Nelsons/DG Strauss box?
Meh.
your impression of vater strauss is honestly uncanny
This is difficult, but in a different way from the Mozart Piano concerti from a few days ago. There, the problem is that they are such masterworks and there are so many fantastic performances that trying to choose "the best" feels like a fool's errand - better to keep on listening and encounter so many different takes on them. Here, where we are dealing with someone rather marvellous but a less exalted artist (Strauss would of course agree!) I find myself rather in tune with another contributor who has Karajan (probably some of his DG recordings) and the Kempe box, both widely acknowledged to be excellent, and hesitating to accumulate more not least because of the expense involved. I do have the big Reiner box, so I have his too, and luckily I acquired this when it hadn't escalated to the price mentioned by another commentator here! (I think the Reiner Strauss recordings are available on a cheaper smaller box though...)
Have some other recordings in multi-work boxes though, and this is mainly where I can realistically get a potentially different "take" on these. Interesting, your thoughts on Strauss' timing - I mean I can see what you mean, and I do find Heldenleben a bit of a slog (I haven't listened to Don Quixote in ages which may be for similar reasons). But Zarathustra does work, and maybe I prefer to see the immediate "descent" from that big opening as a sort of strategy rather than a mistake (Kempe slightly underplays the opening and some say this is supposed to be a necessary adjustment). I rather like the quiet and tonally ambiguous ending and can see that the winding-down process from the opening might be structurally interesting. You helped me call to mind what Charles Rosen said in his book on romantic music about Schumann's C Major Fantasy - so much energy at the opening that its quite difficult to see where the composer can go afterwards. So maybe its a liability in the post-classical style generally, or maybe Strauss (who wasn't Mozart, but as a theatre man was quite wise) was exploring what to do after a big romantic even explosive first gesture.
Speculating, but do think the Steinberg/ Boston is excellent here as many here have said (and a wonderful Holst Planets as coupling) even if I agree, Dave, that that 1974 Karajan has special qualities.
And seconding the younger person who wrote here, yes, we need to hear your thoughts on WOZZECK and the Berg violin concerto :)
The Steinberg is absolutely brilliant. Personally, I like it better than Karajan's, but again, what I like personally is not what always determines my ultimate choice. It's what I think the viewer should hear based on my professional experience and knowledge as a critic over the decades. That's a very different consideration. I will get to Berg. I love that stuff, so it's coming.
I have a huge soft spot for Till Eulenspiegel because of the Eb Clarinet part. It's kind of a stupid piece but it's one of my guilty pleasures.
Why would one regard it as stupid? It's not a serious story and music is therefor not serious, but it's geniously witty.
I was relieved when you chose Karajan/BPO for ASZ. Absolutely the best performance out there, and I agree with you about the way Karajan takes that part of the beginning, sounds just right, I've never liked the 'standard' one in majority of performances.
Aus Italien: Muti (Philips)
Macbeth: Maazel (DG)
Death and Transfiguration: Karajan (Video Sony)
Don Juan: Karajan (video 1984 - Osaka)
Till Eulenspiegel: Karajan (1987)
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Karajan (live video 1987)
Heldenleben: Karajan (video Sony)
Don Quixote: Rostropovich/Karajan (EMI)
VIDEO!!!
Symphonia Domestica: Karajan (EMI) including the splendid trumpet Top-C crack!
Ein Alpensinfonie: Karajan (live video Sony)
Metamorphosen: Karajan (Video Sony)
Seven Veils Dance: Karajan (Berlin Philharmonic DG 1972)
Bourgeois Gentelhomme: Tate/ECO (EMI)
Didn't the movie use the Berlin Phil/Bohm version? I thought it did.
No.
I believe the movie used HVK's Decca version, but the soundtrack album swapped in BPO/Bohm for rights reasons.
For Tod und Verklärung I love Celibidache - a conductor maybe even better than Karajan at pseudo-profound psychobabble. The Stuttgart recording (on DG) has an amazing "Celi moment" climax which truly finds an extra gear and goes through the roof - shame about the out-of-tune harp for the quiet ending though. No such problem with the Munich recording even if the peroration isn't quite up to what he managed in Stuttgart ...
I can't decide between Reiner's Heldenleben and Karajan's EMI version. For ASZ, Steinberg has the BSO, the Symphony Hall organ and the Symphony Hall acoustics, but then again there's also Dorati on Decca with Detroit. I like Szell's Don Juan, but Dorati's Mercury version is a similar interpretation with better sound. Hard not pick Karajan's Alpensinfonie. Choices, choices...
The Dorati/Detroit Also Sprach Zarathustra is the only one I found you can hear the organ when it’s playing although they might have dubbed it in because I don’t think the hall in which they recorded it had an organ at all or it would not have been in good enough condition. Another thing I like about the recording is how deliberate a pace it is-the “Of Science” where the fugue slowly starts is stirring that way. Lastly, in general one can hear all the individual “voices” of the orchestra very well throughout.
@@jackstewart2095 I love the orchestral sound on Dorati's Detroit recordings. I've never been able to find out how they recorded the organ. The Auditorium apparently had a Wurlitzer, but I find it hard to believe that's what they used... The organ is also amazing on his Detroit Miraculous Mandarin, especially the first entry on track 1.
@@jameslee2943 Me too and me either! Also, I think by the 80s the United Artists Theater there was in shambles. I know for the Solti/CSO Mahler 8 recording, they dubbed in the organ, and it sounds great, so maybe Decca was doing it for the DSO recordings too? Thank you so much for the Bartok recommendation---that's on the top of my list to buy now!
Why in the Tone Poems list you selected Alpensinfonie with Solti (Decca) and in the Alpensinfonie video you selected Kord?
Because there is no reason to settle for just one version when there are many that are all excellent.
@@DavesClassicalGuide The Kord/Warsaw interpretation is fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation.
@@marcelobriones6551 Sure thing!
No Furtwangler? Are the 1950s sonics too obsolete?
No, but the performances are.
Macbeth is the only piece I know of that calls for a tremolo on a triple stop for strings. Suitably bloody.
17:10 Maybe to get that effect, some Also sprach Zarathustra recording should try the kind of impossible-to-reproduce-live digital manipulation that film soundtracks often do.
Glad to see you solved the "gender problem" with "Hello music lovers". Any change you would make an IDEAL Mozart late string quartets or string quintets? Wonderful video as always! Keep up the good work
I already did a Mozart quintet video.
What's next? Stravinsky ballet works?
That's a thought.
@@DavesClassicalGuide A very, very good thought, I guess! And then perhaps Dvorak...?
I would be very interested to hear Dave's thoughts on Agon.
I don't prefer Solti. To my taste , he is rushing the tempos way too much. Strauss has so much beauty, and that's why
i find his music better in a slower tempo. Karajan do that extremely well.
I know that you're a Tam-tam-guy, but aren't gongs fine, too? And there are 14 of them in Strauss' "Japanische Festmusik", which is a Tone Poem with the movements Seascape, Cherry Blossom Festival, Volcanic Eruption, Attack of the Samurai and Emperor's Hymn. Strauss wrote it for the same Japan-2600-year-celebration like Britten his "Sinfonia da Requiem" (which was refused). And the best recording made Richard Strauss himself. Why? Because there aren't any other recordings. That poor work (okay, it's not Strauss at his best, rather the opposite) is not even in your "All-Twelve"-recommendations. That I call really ill fated...!
There are no other recordings because the piece has come to be seen in hindsight as having been written to celebrate Hitler's alliance with Japan in WWII. We do badly need a new version. Strauss's own sounds pretty bad, but the piece seem to be just too politically tainted and I saw no point in discussing it. You could also argue that it's less a tone poem than an "occasional work," which I think describes it better, even though the sections have titles.
I own a recording of that piece with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the Czech Philharmonic. In my opinion this sounds a little bit boring and uninspired. I think it is the only version available in stereo.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You're right. In fact, if it where good music, one would have a real problem. I think, Strauss rated it higher than just as a occasional work. I think, the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Samurai-movement could be nice. The seascape is bad - never let a bavarian (or an Austrian) do something about the sea, the result would always be a lake. The greatest disappointment was the volcano - as if Strauss had lost any interest. Nevertheless, I would like to hear the work in a good recording - just to complete my Strauss-symphonic-poems.
@@stevepillemann9373 Interesting. There are some newer versions for download, even on UA-cam. But the Ashkenazy is interesting - never heard about this recording. It was (or is) on Exton, I know now. I'll have a try to get it. Thanks! And yes, the work is rather boring with very few really interesting bars. But, well, I'm interested in the work because of the connection with Britten. As I wrote above in a few words, Britten got the commission to write a work for the celebration. He wrote the "Sinfonia da Requiem", which was subsequently refused by the japanese government for being pacifist and christian (and written by a propably enemy). Other europeans who got commissions have been Jacques Ibert, Sandor Veress and Ildebrando Pizzetti. Britten was the only one, who was rejected. And Strauss stopped his work on the "Danae" for his "Festmusik". Well, the history is more interesting than the piece itself...
@@edwinbaumgartner5045 It seems that they are so embarrassed with it that it never even gets played in Japan.
Strauss conducting VPO Also Sprach 1944 is incomparable
Strauss conducted his own tone poems with the transparency of his beloved Mozart. Try to find the Munich radio performances on Music and Arts, generally more vital than the later VPO recordings.
He was a terrible conductor of his own music. He said that it bored him.
As Strauss said about trombones, taking his remarks too seriously would only encourage him. Szell was closer to the truth when he said his friend was great when he wasn’t bored. Listen to that M&A set. It makes most other performances sound leaden.
lol indeed some of them are silly, but I think it's because at least myself a millennial, grew up with Disney Fantasias' VHS wearing out of use, and the still typical generic cartoon network infusion of 20th century orchestral & chamber music, not to go into soundtrack/score from popular movies; so I can't but associate those silly passages and arrangements with tom and jerry and micky mouse chase and run
🤣😂