Post by erik on Jan 20, 2024 19:29:13 GMT -5
Richard Strauss, a first-rate composer of supposedly "second-rate" music, is in this week's Classical Albums Spotlight, with three of his most important compositions being given stellar performances by one of America's best orchestra/conductor combines in history.
Richard Strauss: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA; DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION; TILL EULENSPIEGEL’S MERRY PRANKS
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/HERBERT BLOMSTEDT (London/Decca)
Richard Strauss liked to keep saying that he was “a first-rate composer of second-rate music”. But the truth of the matter is that he was a significant innovator in Western music during the late 19th century, and well into the 20th century as well, despite two world wars that left so much of the culture he knew in ruins. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to extend and innovate the form of the symphonic poem, laid out by Franz Liszt during the first half of the 19th century, and boosted by Strauss by large orchestral forces which gave even Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler runs for their money.
Taking its inspiration from the story of the Persian philosopher Zoroaster and the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Strauss’ 1896 tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” gives a reverting a at times brooding account of Zoraoster’s wanderings and philosophical experiences over a 33-minute running time. The work’s depiction of Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) seeing a sunrise is depicted in an opening two-minute passage that was fairly imposing in and of itself, but which was given full gravitas and weight in 1968, when legendary film maker Stanley Kubrick used it as the musical calling card of his hugely influential sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. That famous ascending theme, known as the “World Riddle” theme, is heard throughout much of the work in various permutations, until its enigmatic and somewhat sinister ending, with low pizzicato strings.
Just eight years earlier in 1888, Strauss composed what is arguably his most metaphysical symphonic tone poem, in the form of “Death And Transfiguration”. This incredibly haunting work, in the composer’s own words, depicts the final moments of the mortal life of a man, possibly an artist, the spasms of fever and pain, and finally Death, but leading to a glorious and poignant transfiguration, when the soul leaves the body and finds perfected in the infinite cosmos the peace and tranquility that doesn’t exist in a mortal life. At a length of twenty-five minutes, “Death And Transfiguration” is also extremely spiritual, something that he alluded to his daughter-in-law Alice in 1949, shortly before he passed away at the age of 85.
Strauss’ first big success in the realm of the symphonic tone poem was his 1894-95 work “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”, based on the life of a jester who thumbs his nose at the bourgeoisie. Such a figure did indeed exist in Germany during the 14th century, though, unlike Strauss’ “Eulenspiegel”, the real figure died in bed in 1350, and not via the gallows in a grisly execution. Composed in the form of a rondo, with typically large orchestration, “Till Eulenspiegel” was pretty much the work that helped to cement Strauss reputation in the purely orchestral world, much as “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Elektra” gave him a huge leg up in the realm of opera.
All three works are given splendid performances in this 1995 recording by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, who was the orchestra’s music director from 1985 to 1995. That these works, particularly “Zarathustra”, are performed so well is a testament both to the orchestra and Blomstedt himself, having mastered Strauss’ work in decades past as the chief conductor of Strauss’ favorite orchestra, the Dresden State Orchestra (Staatskapelle Dresden). Indeed, these performances are among the best that all three of these works have ever received.
Richard Strauss: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA; DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION; TILL EULENSPIEGEL’S MERRY PRANKS
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/HERBERT BLOMSTEDT (London/Decca)
Richard Strauss liked to keep saying that he was “a first-rate composer of second-rate music”. But the truth of the matter is that he was a significant innovator in Western music during the late 19th century, and well into the 20th century as well, despite two world wars that left so much of the culture he knew in ruins. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to extend and innovate the form of the symphonic poem, laid out by Franz Liszt during the first half of the 19th century, and boosted by Strauss by large orchestral forces which gave even Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler runs for their money.
Taking its inspiration from the story of the Persian philosopher Zoroaster and the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Strauss’ 1896 tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” gives a reverting a at times brooding account of Zoraoster’s wanderings and philosophical experiences over a 33-minute running time. The work’s depiction of Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) seeing a sunrise is depicted in an opening two-minute passage that was fairly imposing in and of itself, but which was given full gravitas and weight in 1968, when legendary film maker Stanley Kubrick used it as the musical calling card of his hugely influential sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. That famous ascending theme, known as the “World Riddle” theme, is heard throughout much of the work in various permutations, until its enigmatic and somewhat sinister ending, with low pizzicato strings.
Just eight years earlier in 1888, Strauss composed what is arguably his most metaphysical symphonic tone poem, in the form of “Death And Transfiguration”. This incredibly haunting work, in the composer’s own words, depicts the final moments of the mortal life of a man, possibly an artist, the spasms of fever and pain, and finally Death, but leading to a glorious and poignant transfiguration, when the soul leaves the body and finds perfected in the infinite cosmos the peace and tranquility that doesn’t exist in a mortal life. At a length of twenty-five minutes, “Death And Transfiguration” is also extremely spiritual, something that he alluded to his daughter-in-law Alice in 1949, shortly before he passed away at the age of 85.
Strauss’ first big success in the realm of the symphonic tone poem was his 1894-95 work “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”, based on the life of a jester who thumbs his nose at the bourgeoisie. Such a figure did indeed exist in Germany during the 14th century, though, unlike Strauss’ “Eulenspiegel”, the real figure died in bed in 1350, and not via the gallows in a grisly execution. Composed in the form of a rondo, with typically large orchestration, “Till Eulenspiegel” was pretty much the work that helped to cement Strauss reputation in the purely orchestral world, much as “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Elektra” gave him a huge leg up in the realm of opera.
All three works are given splendid performances in this 1995 recording by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, who was the orchestra’s music director from 1985 to 1995. That these works, particularly “Zarathustra”, are performed so well is a testament both to the orchestra and Blomstedt himself, having mastered Strauss’ work in decades past as the chief conductor of Strauss’ favorite orchestra, the Dresden State Orchestra (Staatskapelle Dresden). Indeed, these performances are among the best that all three of these works have ever received.