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Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Don Juan, Op. 20 (1888) [18:33]
Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24 (1888/89) [26:18]
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28 (1895) [14:35]
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
rec. 8-10 June 2012, Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, USA
REFERENCE RECORDINGS FR-707 
[59:26]
This year, 2014, marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
the birth of Richard Strauss. In these highly competitive times commercial
imperatives are the driving force behind most recordings. Nevertheless
it is to be hoped that this Strauss anniversary year will produce
some fresh recordings of his lesser regarded orchestral works including
the symphonic fantasy Aus Italien, the tone poem Macbeth,
the orchestral suite Le bourgeois gentilhomme and the Symphonia
Domestica.
Here on this Reference Recordings SACD are three of Strauss’s
most successful orchestral scores regarded by many as masterpieces
of the genre.
The opening work is Don Juan, a tone poem after Nikolaus Lenau’s
dramatic poem. It was the seventeenth century Spanish playwright Tirso
de Molina who created the character of the renowned Spanish lover
Don Juan from traditional folk legends. Many playwrights were inspired
to write about Don Juan, notably Byron, Dumas and Molière.
Based on the play by Hungarian poet Nikolaus Lenau, Strauss was aged
only twenty-four when he commenced sketches for Don Juan in
1888. Considered for its time a revolutionary work when Don Juan
was introduced at Weimar in 1889, its success elevated Strauss to
superstar status. It’s not hard to imagine that this period
was an extremely happy one in Strauss’s life as around this
time he was in love with his future wife the soprano Pauline de Ahna.
Maestro Honeck conducts the noble introduction toDon Juan with
an heroic feel to this moody and colourful score in which a sumptuous
and ripe sensuality predominates. With a striking range of orchestral
colour the Pittsburgh orchestra’s stormy and robust surges of
restless energy are almost overpowering. The conductor points out,
in the notes, that at the end of Don Juan for emphasis he has
adjusted the sound of the strings “gradually to transform the
tone into an uncomfortable, convulsing and shuddering ponticello
until the final pizzicato marks the hero’s last heartbeat.”
Honeck and his Pittsburgh players excel in this work but without displacing
the 1957 Dresden account from the Staatskapelle Dresden under Karl
Böhm the 1963 Berlin account Berliner Philharmoniker also under Karl Böhm or the 1972/73 Berlin account from Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan; all three are on Deutsche Grammophon.
In 1888/89 Strauss wrote the tone poem Death and Transfiguration
(Tod und Verklarung). It is his attempt to depict the last
moments of an artist on his deathbed reflecting on his youth. Here
Strauss was unable to draw upon his own personal experience of serious
illness and was using his imagination. At the behest of Strauss, his
friend Alexander Ritter wrote an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration
in a poem; in effect a programme note. This receives a splendidly
paced and moving performance with a glorious wash of orchestral sound.
As fine as this Pittsburgh recording is it fails to displace my preferred
1982 Berlin account by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von
Karajan and also his earlier 1972/3 Berlin account with the same forces
each on Deutsche Grammophon.
The tone poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - after
an old picaresque legend in rondo form for large orchestra, was composed
by Strauss in 1895. Till Eulenspiegel, Strauss’s
mischievous prankster, is a character from fourteenth century traditional
German folk legends. Concerned with orchestral detail Honeck in the
notes explains that in the trial scene he has heightened the pitch
of the D clarinet to make it more audible. He further reveals the
importance of giving extra emphasis to the sforzato chords.
Strauss’s agreeably heart-warming score is so full of light-hearted
mischief but despite a valiant attempt this version cannot match the
compellingly portrayed reading by the Berliner Philharmoniker under
Rudolf Kempe from Berlin in 1958 reissued on Regis. In addition there
are strong claims for the convincing live 2009 Munich recording from
the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Mariss Jansons
on BR Klassik.
I played this hybrid SACD on my standard player. Recorded in 2012
by Soundmirror of Boston the satisfying sound certainly serves the
music splendidly being warm and clear with an excellent balance.
In recent years this orchestra has grown in stature and with this
release in the Pittsburgh Live! series their collaboration
has once again borne luscious fruit.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index: Don
Juan ~~ Till
Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks ~~ Tod
und Verklarung
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