Posts Tagged ‘Richard Strauss’
Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra visit New York with Bartók, Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Bruckner, with Leonidas Kavakos
When the Concertgebouw play at Carnegie, it is hard to imagine that any other orchestra could be as good or better. Then we hear Vienna and Dresden (we we shall this season), and we realize that the great Central European orchestras flourish in spheres all their own, and that it is a fool’s errand to attempt to rank them. Still, when it comes to communicating what a composer wrote, rather than a particular tradition of playing, the Concertgebouw remain unsurpassed. And if one refers back to the magnificent legacy of recorded performances under conductors associated with other orchestras—Walter, Klemperer, Szell, Monteux, and others—one consistently finds that their performances with the Concertgebouw represent their very best work. This year’s visit went right to the mark.
Golden Bough: Richard Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae
In my preview of this opera, I maintained that Die Liebe der Danae (more properly, Danaë, emphasizing the “ahh-aay” of the last two vowels), is a rarely performed treasure from the last years of Richard Strauss. Based on Maestro Botstein’s wonderful recording a decade ago, I wondered whether an actual stage production could do justice to the music. Joseph Gregor’s libretto seemed wayward to me, so that seemed the biggest obstacle for a felicitous live production. In fact, this new production at Bard’s Summerscape, directed by Kevin Newbury, lived up to, and exceeded all my expectations. Musically, it turns out as one of Strauss’s most attractive works; and the libretto, while quirky and vapid at times, inspired a humorous, imaginative and completely enchanting production.
At Bard Summerscape 2011: the Greatest Opera You’ve (Probably) Never Heard.
Die Liebe der Danaë Libretto by Joseph Gregor Based on a scenario by Hugo von Hofmannsthal Music by Richard Strauss First N.Y. Fully Staged production July 29 – August 7, 2011 The Richard B. Fisher Center f or the Performing Arts at Bard College The American Symphony Orchestra Leon Botstein, Conductor It’s a bit of [...]
Art Imitating Art: Strauss’s Capriccio at the Met
Strauss’s Capriccio (Conversation Piece for Music in One Act) opus 85 Libretto by Clemens Krauss and Richard Strauss The Metropolitan Opera Production Live in HD, April 23, 2011 Andrew Davis, Conductor John Cox, Producer Mauro Pagano, Set Designer Renée Fleming, The Countess Madeleine Morten Frank Larsen, The Count Sarah Connolly, Clarion Joseph Kaiser, Flamand Russell Braun, Olivier Peter [...]
Bard SummerScape 2011 Explores the Life and Times of Jean Sibelius with a Seven-Week Arts Festival in New York’s Hudson Valley, July 7 – August 21, 2011
[UPDATE: read our review of the festival here.] Bard SummerScape 2011 Explores the Life and Times of Jean Sibelius with a Seven-Week Arts Festival in New York’s Hudson Valley, July 7 – August 21, 2011 Includes 22nd Bard Music Festival, “Sibelius and His World” and New York’s First Staged Production [...]
Alfred Brendel, Deborah Voigt, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra: Mozart, Webern, Berg, Strauss, Salome
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra James Levine, Music Director and Conductor Deborah Voigt, Soprano Alfred Brendel, Piano Webern, Six Pieces for Orchestra Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 R. Strauss, Final Scene from Salome It comes as particularly sad news that Alfred Brendel will retire from public recitals [...]
