BaL 22.01.11 - Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

[Nick Armstrong]

Perhaps we can be offered sonething a little more worthwhile in the nest few editions?

.... but instead, we get bloody Liszt

[BBMmk2]

Well, that was a surprise - the only version I've given away.
Interesting, nevertheless, though what's Eine Alpensinfonie without a thunderstorm?

The Bohm was the 1st version I ever bought (Karajan the 3rd) and I've never heard the 1985 Haitink.

EA, I see you can get it from amazo(from these sellers.........)(The Haitink)

[salymap]

I've never really,really listened to this, although I love most of the RS I know well. I wonder if anyone mentioned my CD from BBCMM Vol 1 no.5. by Jansons and the BBC Welsh SO? I shouldn'tthink so. Must listen on Momday.

[Nick Armstrong]

I enjoyed William Mival's analysis. From the extracts he chose, I heard what he meant about the Karajan. I'm cross, actually... I was sure I had that CD, with its classic cover... but I find that I don't seem to have it (unless I've lent it to someone and forgotten )

To my surprise I do have the Thielemann (must have read a good review... it's unlike me to buy a new full-price CD like that). I shall give it a whirl shortly.

I also have the Blomstedt, which a search of this thread suggested no-one had mentioned but a manual search shows was listed by EA and endorsed by Rolmill in message #39. (The 'search thread' facility seems to recognise "Blomstedt's" but not "Blomstedt" )

I must listen to Blomstedt again, because I remember it as tremendous and indeed I see Michael Kennedy's Gramophone review placed it up on the podium alongside HvK/ BPO and Haitink/Concertgebouw:

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/June%201990/64/761204/R.+STRAUSS.+Eine+Alpensinfonie,+Op.+64.+Don+Juan,+Op.+20.+San+Francisco+Symphony+Orchestra++Herbert+Blomstedt.+Decca+0+CI+421+8154DH+(D+421+8152DH+(70+minutes%3A+DDD

Blomstedt certainly didn't get a look in on BAL so maybe it is unavailable (but then, ditto the Haitink which made the final cut despite being unavailable)

Do EA or Petrushka (possessors of 11 versions apiece ) have the Blomstedt and if so what's the expert opinion?

PS I didn't miss the storm sequence in the analysis - I don't think that section is going to provide any crucial interpretative distinctions between versions... a wind machine's a wind machine's a wind machine, I would have thought...

[kernelbogey]

I was interested by the reference to the orginal title (which I've now forgotten ) and the referrence to Nietzsche. Any comments EA (on Nietzsche, not my memory, please)?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA, I see you can get it from amazo(from these sellers.........)(The Haitink)

Which sellers? But thanks. I'll investigate.

Looking at the review in more detail, I did notice a couple of mini-howlers:

Karajan's EA may well have been the first classical CD to have been pressed, but it was first issued in March 1983, along with many others, not in 1981 (which was probably the issue date for the LP).

Strauss scored the work for 20 French horns, not 8.


I did agree with the suggestion that in the Kempe recordings, it sounds as though a herd of cows is crossing the stage. I thought that when I first heard the RPO version . Indeed, I used to play it to my fellow students, and it made them smile.

On "effects" in general, we had the excerpt from the waterfall sequence, which does at least have the water falling in the right direction, rather than uphill as Smetana's Vltava appears to defy gravity.

The Masur excerpt convinced me to investigate this version too.

I wasn't quite sure why Thielemann didn't reach the final shortlist - the idea of the VPO strings sounding "grey" seems to come from a parallel universe. But it nearly made it.

Lovely offstage horns in the Bohm recording - nice and distant.

In a work such as this, the best recording quality is, I think, more important than normal. It's such a huge score that it only works either live or in real high fidelity sound, which is one of the reasons I gave away the Karajan. However, the remixed version currently available does sound much better. It was the overclose strings in the "descent" passage that really grated. I wonder whether this has been remedied.

And for light relief, does anyone else, brought up on LP versions, still expect there to be a refreshment break at the summit, when turning the record over? Being able to hear the work without a break at this climactic point was one of the great advantages of the coming of the CD.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... a wind machine's a wind machine's a wind machine, I would have thought...

Yes, but on the score, there's no indication of how it should be played. So it's open to more interpretation than other percussion instruments. It's much the same in VW's Sinfonia Antartica. Therefore, it's interesting to compare versions.

I was interested by the reference to the orginal title (which I've now forgotten ) and the reference to Nietzsche.

This is the one aspect of Strauss that most disturbs me. I'd rather think of Strauss climbing a great mountain than be tied down to one of the influences on the Third Reich.

[kernelbogey]

... one aspect of Strauss that most disturbs me. I'd rather think of Strauss climbing a great mountain than be tied down to one of the influences on the Third Reich.

Agreed - it reminded me, of course, of Zarathustra. There was no reference to why he changed the title of the piece, as I recall

[Roehre]

.... but instead, we get bloody Liszt

What, coming week Liszt's Bergsinfonie/Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne ?

[Parry1912]

Very interesting BAL today. I thought. Although, once again, Ida Haendel didn't get a mention...

I think she went off-piste in the cadenza!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA, I see you can get it from amazo(from these sellers.........)(The Haitink)

I've found it, but the prices...!

[Nick Armstrong]

I think she went off-piste in the cadenza!

Another reminder that it's Lizst next week

I went off-lizst some time ago...

[Nick Armstrong]

I was interested by the reference to the orginal title (which I've now forgotten ) and the referrence to Nietzsche. Any comments EA (on Nietzsche, not my memory, please)?

He was going to call it The Antichrist

This is what Richard Strauss wrote about it, following the death of Mahler (what a mix of laudable and debatable - to say the least - sentiments are crammed into this paragraph!!)

"The death of this aspiring, idealistic, energetic artist [is] a grave loss ... Mahler, the Jew, could achieve elevation in Christianity. As an old man the hero Wagner returned to it under the influence of Schopenhauer. It is clear to me that the German nation will achieve new creative energy only by liberating itself from Christianity ... I shall call my alpine symphony: Der Antichrist, since it represents: moral purification through one's own strength, liberation through work, worship of eternal, magnificent nature."

Discuss....

[maestro267]

The only version of Eine Alpensinfonie I have is the Weimar/Wit recording on Naxos. The only problem I have with that recording is the lack of volume in the organ part during the storm sequence. I know there's so much going on in the rest of the orchestra, but the organ provides an epic 'backing' to the chaos.

[kernelbogey]

He was going to call it The Antichrist ...

[/I]Discuss....

Thanks Caliban.

Some time ago I heard Charles Mackerras on the radio tell an anecdote about Strauss. As I recall, Strauss's son had married a jewish woman. Somehow, the three of them were at an event with Hitler, to whom Strauss introduced the couple, who had joined Strauss with understandable reluctance.

Mackerras said that Hitler greeted the woman with a phrase I've now forgotten - something like "Jetzt sind Sie aufge-----..." - meaning that her marriage to Strauss's son somehow made her an honorary Aryan.

Has anyone come across this story? Presumably CM had read it somewhere. I would love to know the precise words Hitler used.