Richard Strauss

Neeme Järvi’s multi-volume traversal of Richard Strauss with the Scottish National Orchestra was largely successful, and this effort of the early Macbeth symphonic poem and the rare vocal/orchestral song Notturno was a highlight. The Rosenkavalier Waltz sequences are a bit of lightweight filler in contrast to the darker themes of the other works on offer, but as a program is quite interesting.

Am 14. Januar 1966 befand sich New York, unter einer Schneedecke, fest im Griff von Minus-Temperaturen. Doch als Elisabeth Schwarzkopf die Columbia-Studios betrat, um mit Glenn Gould Lieder von Richard Strauss aufzunehmen, war es nicht etwa nur mollig warm, es muss eine Bullenhitze geherrscht haben. Der dauerfröstelnde Kanadier Gould hatte die Thermostate aufdrehen lassen – und daran sollte sich zum Leidwesen der Stimmbänder der Schwarzkopf nichts ändern. So hört man die Sopranistin immer wieder mal kräftig durchkeuchen, mit den Worten „I´m full of Schleim!“

Bernstein opera sets come few and far between, but those that do emerge are treated as isolated landmarks. Such was his recording of Richard Strauss` ''Der Rosenkavalier'' of 1971 (CBS M3K 42564, three CDs), recorded three years after he virtually swept the Viennese off their collective feet with it at the Staatsoper.

I think Karl Böhm's live performances of Strauss operas represent some of his best work; this is a companion piece to his live Daphne which has yet to be bettered despite being another elderly, live recording, albeit in narrow stereo. It is in comparatively restricted mono but one soon forgets that, given the quality of the performance.

Neeme Järvi’s multi-volume traversal of Richard Strauss with the Scottish National Orchestra was largely successful, and this effort of the early Macbeth symphonic poem and the rare vocal/orchestral song Notturno was a highlight. The Rosenkavalier Waltz sequences are a bit of lightweight filler in contrast to the darker themes of the other works on offer, but as a program is quite interesting.

Few singers have fused words and music as eloquently as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and few sopranos have proved more radiant in Strauss. All this makes her the ideal protagonist in the composer’s final opera, his ingenious and engaging ‘conversation piece’ on artistic themes. Schwarzkopf is joined by a cast of superlative stature and style and by a conductor intimately identified with the works of Strauss, Wolfgang Sawallisch.

I think Karl Böhm's live performances of Strauss operas represent some of his best work; this is a companion piece to his live Daphne which has yet to be bettered despite being another elderly, live recording, albeit in narrow stereo. It is in comparatively restricted mono but one soon forgets that, given the quality of the performance.

In the wake of its first performance under his own direction in March 1904, Strauss struck a self-satisfied note: “Domestica has turned out a success, it sounds great, but it’s very difficult.” The extreme technical demands and the large resources required – the intimate details of the composer’s private life are translated into a monumental tone poem in his Sinfonia domestica.

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss works to feature a libretto by the great Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This production, from the most recent Salzburg Easter Festival is, after Capriccio, the second of three Richard Strauss operas C Major is releasing in honor of the composers birth, life and work. The star-laden cast includes soprano Renèe Fleming, baritone Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen (Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, MET) and Gabriela Beaková (Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden). With Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, the music of Richard Strauss is in the best of hands. (ORF) Thielemann gets the best out of the cast…especially Renée Fleming with her luxurious soprano.

A selection of Richard Strauss’s most-loved lieder and songs, and Elisabeth’s arias from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the role in which Lise Davidsen will make her debut at Bayreuth Festival. Plus Ariadne’s aria from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos: her 2017 Glyndebourne debut in the title role was named “one of those ‘I was there’ moments” (The Times).
Also includes Strauss’s iconic Four Last Songs, originally premiered by Decca’s Kirsten Flagstad. Recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra, who performed the premiere of the Four Last Songs, and Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.