There’s been much discussion about his choice of tempi, which was considered too slow even back in the early 60’s when most of these recordings were made. But to my ears he’s more often right than wrong. This includes his St. Matthew Passion, which is just sublime. The only recording I don’t ’get’ is his Mahler 7. Here the tempi are so ridiculously slow that the piece falls apart completely. I’m pretty much convinced it’s intentional, but completely at a loss to understand what that intention might have been.
Richard Strauss Recordings
Strauss is one of a very few Composers who had equal success in both Opera and Symphonic realm. For the purpose of this discussion I am confining my discussion to non Opera, so essentially: Zarathustra, Till, Don Juan, Heldenleben, Eine Alpinesymphony, Death and Transfiguration, Rosenkavalier and Capriccio extracts, Metamophasen, the early works (Macbeth, Aus Italian) and the one that I really dislike—Symphonica Domestica.
Sine these are such great Orchestral showcases they have oft been recorded and many as large collections.
I’ve been listening through the Kempe set with the Dresden Staatkapelle recently (the latest reissue on Warner) from the early seventies and primarily comparing it with two sets -the Reiner/Chicago set, dating from the dawn of the stereo era (Zarathustra recorded-in stereo-in to 1954!) from it’s last Sony reissue, and the Karajan/Berlin Phil set from the early digital era.
The first observation here, this being an Audiophile Site, is the incredible quality of the first two sets. At no point, even with the Reiner recordings made before I was born, did I feel that I was listening to anything less than superb reproduction. It’s amazing how much digital replay has advanced, and how much information is in these old tapes. By contrast, the worse recording was the Karajan, as DG hadn’t figured out the new technology, and Von K. no doubt had a hand in twiddling the knobs at the mix. It’s over bright and pace any DG recording of the last third of the last century, lacking in bass and presence.
The Reiner and Kempe are superb collections. It’s a pity that Reiner never recorded the Alpine Symphony, and occasionally with Kempe one gets the feeling of being hemmed in by the bar lines, but those are relatively rare instances and the DSK of that vintage probably still had players who had been conducted by the Composer, who favored that Orchestra in his later years.
I have several other later Strauss recordings but probably it will be just Kempe and Reiner for me going forward
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I feel the same as you...
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First of all, I really appreciate the discussion here. I think that there is too much of a tendency to criticize Strauss for a certain slickness and commercialism. Strauss never wanted to be a starving composer eking out an existence and be feted decades after his demise. He certainly engaged in self promotion. I find none of this objectionable. He became a more self conscious “Great Artist “ as he aged, and that is one of the problems with having created an incredible body of work in his younger years. Stravinsky had a similar trajectory. in Don Quixote I feel that Strauss has a real empathy for the Knight Errant, after the closing music is simply magical. Heldenleben ends with great sincerity. And Zarathustra reflects beliefs that Strauss held dear, the same beliefs that inspired Mahler Three. I am listening to the Reiner Zarathustra now, from 1954. Unbelievable record for that age |
@magister Stravinsky actually did change my life...or at least my musical aesthetic. My dad would regularly bring home an LP of classical music for me to give a try, and one of them was Petrushka on a cheapie LP with the Cento Soli orchestra of Paris. After a couple of difficult listens I began to absolutely love it. For a little while, one of my grammar school teachers would invite us to bring in our favorite LP for the rest of the class to listen to. I brought in Petrushka. Boy did everyone hate it! In any case, I still listen to the thing. |
Very beautiful and moving story ... Thanks very much edcyn... Indeed even if Stravinsky never moved my heart, i perfectly understand his genius which is indeed without peer...And as i made it clear, we are all different and the way we enter into contact with Music differ and did not do the same effect on each of us... My musical life changed at 13 years old, i was gifted by a transistor small radio and i was listening the songs of the era in the night hidden under my blanket with small cheap IEM... Then in the college, the teacher taught us about Bach putting Brandenburg concertos on a small turntable connected to two speakers used for this course... I entered in some ectasy right on the spot without even knowing what it was i felt and why i felt it and how...I was under a shock as someone seeing angels without recognizing them as such...I discovered THINKING in the silent walking alone right after the music course... I did not even know at the time the detph where i had been touch : the PERFECT HARMONY EXIST...The absolute may exist... Etc... It was like "number theory" when the very young Ramanujan stumbled by chance on an English mathemathical book from the English Masters of India... But alas! i was not a genius myself...But i could understand how can someone feel in the discovery of a revelation... After that, music stayed in my obsession, and we were very poor, but i keep my money and buy my first stereo...I rediscovered Bach and entered in some new ectasy listening Josquin Des Prez, Missa Pange Lingua , i was 16... As you see nobody live the same life , and why some music touch us and why the Beatles i listened to as the others never touched me really even if i could appreciate them is a mystery of my individuality...As your Stravinski ectasy who change the way you consider music and life...I started a thread here about the fact that i appreciate Miles Davis a lot but i was more touched by Chet Baker, i did not really understand why even if i can justifying it more than explaining it in a way... It is not logical...
We are all an abyss wrapped in a cosmos and at the same time a cosmos wrapped in an abyss... There exist projective varieties based on a point at infinity and another set of varieties based on a plane at infinity... Mysteries inside mysteries indeed... 😊
« Sorry,too much projective geometry»-Groucho Marx 🤓
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