Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Burleske in D minor TRV 145 (1890) [20:01]
Serenade for Winds in E-flat, Op 7 (1881) [8:32]
Tod und Verklärung,
Op 24 (1889) [26:42]
rec. Auditorium de la Maison de la Radio, Paris, September 2020 (Burleske)
January 2021 (Serenade) June 2019 (Tod und Verklärung)
Nelson Goerner (piano) Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Mikko
Franck
Reviewed as a digital download from a press preview
ALPHA 733
[55:18]
Looking at the track list for this new recording, I found myself playing a
game of trying to work out the logic behind its programme. Putting one of
the less well- known of Strauss’ major works with a piece that is barely
known at all seemed to make some sort of sense but then why pair them with
one his most popular pieces? Anyone interested in the two other works must
surely already own a fair number of recordings of Tod und Verklärung.
Likewise these lesser known works will make this disc uncompetitive next
to CDs that put Tod und Verklärung alongside Don Juan or Till Eulenspiegel.
Strauss wrote the first version of his Burleske, then just a plain old
Scherzo in D minor, as a precocious 21-year-old. Pronounced unplayable by
Hans von Bülow, it had to wait until 1890 to see the light of day under the
title we know it by today.
The Burleske shows that Strauss could write virtuoso piano music with the
best of them but I always hear in this score Strauss realising that he
can’t take his piano writing any further at precisely the same moment as
new, stimulating directions for the orchestra were dawning on him. The
piano part dazzles and woos but, try as hard as Strauss might, it never
quite becomes Don Juan or Tod und Verklärung.
Goerner and Franck sensibly emphasise the poetry in this score. The Till
Eulenspiegel-like antics can get a little wearing without some sort of
relief. Strangely for Strauss, the scoring lacks richness in places and,
combined with the percussive nature of the piano writing, it can sound a
little hard. Joseph Moog with Nicholas Milton (ONYX4169, with Brahms Piano
Concerto No 2) whips up more of a storm than
Goerner and Franck but I find it too often degenerates into something
merely noisy and busy. Malcolm Fraser with Kempe (Warner 9029537937, with
Violin Concerto, etc.) is much more poetic than Moog but Goerner enjoys
superior sound.
The even less well-known Serenade is a remarkably assured piece for a 17-year-old. The characteristic Strauss way with horns is already well to the
fore. As is his love of Mozart. One of the striking things about this work
is the way it shows that Strauss the romantic nostalgist of Rosenkavalier
preceded Strauss the enfant terrible of Salome and Don Juan. It is a well
made piece with a glowing, gentle climax and Franck and his players handle
it with affection.
Tod und Verklärung is, of course, one of the composer’s most famous and
most often recorded works. I hadn’t realised until reading the notes in the
liner that it was premiered at the same concert as the Burleske. I doubt
there are many listeners today who ascribe any great profundity to this
piece any more. The mawkish scenario positively reeks of religiosity. But
taken as an orchestral showpiece, it never fails to hit the mark.
I first got to know this work through Karajan’s analogue recording with the
Berlin Philharmonic. It was years before I finally got to hear the notes
Strauss actually wrote at the opening, so shrouded are they in the murk of
what can only be described as the audio equivalent of putting Vaseline on
the lens. Franck is of the opposite persuasion. Everything is crystal clear
but maybe a little too clear? My preferred Karajan version is the digital
remake from 1983. This time everything is audible but there is also an
agreeable whiff of post Parsifal incense about the proceedings (DG 4108922,
with Metamorphosen, download only). The sense of foreboding is intense.
Klemperer being Klemperer isn’t remotely interested in soft focus (Warner
3800082, with Metamorphosen and Mahler Symphony No.9, download only, or
Wagner and Strauss 5-CD set, 2484682), but once again I hear a theatrical
intensity that is largely missing from Franck. Klemperer also finds a
nobility to this music that I wouldn’t have thought it possessed. I like
Karajan precisely because he doesn’t hold back on the Hollywood religious
epic quality of the final pages just as I like Klemperer for his lofty
seriousness and refusal to entertain the idea that there might be anything
melodramatic about the music. Poor old Mikko Franck finds himself stranded
between the two. If François-Xavier Roth’s account is anything to go by
(SWR19426CD, 5 CDs, or separately HAEN93299), then this seems to be the
modern way with Strauss. I find it all a little too well behaved. Strauss
was weaned on Nietzsche so surely there has to be something excessive in a
performance of his music, something almost megalomaniacal? This is a man who
turned his domestic life into a massive Wagnerian tone poem after all!
Two areas where I can be unequivocal are the uniform excellence of the
orchestral playing – take a bow the solo oboe – and in the epic scale of
Alpha’s production.
That said, I am not bowled over by this disc for all its good features and,
particularly in Tod und Verklärung, the competition is just too fierce.
David McDade
