Release Date: 31 December 2004
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 3
Barcode: 747313301126
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: STRAUSS, R.
Description
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)Der RosenkavalierRichard Strauss was the most significant Germanoperatic composer after Richard Wagner and one of themost influential in this genre during the first twodecades of the twentieth century. His operas Salome(1905) and Elektra (1909) initially shockedconservative opera audiences with their supposedlyobscene treatment of biblical and classical subjects. Hisnext opera, Der Rosenkavalier, to a libretto by Hugovon Hoffmansthal, in what was to be the second of theircollaborations, was a radical change in both characterand musical language. It would be a 'burlesque opera inthree acts', later revised to read 'comedy with music'. Itwas as if Strauss, now aged 47, had decided to turnaway from the raw intensity and dramatic fervour of thetwo earlier operas by moving backwards to a genial,more conservative look back at Viennese life at the endof the eighteenth century. The young lion had now castoff his radical youth.The new opera was a great triumph for bothcomposer and librettist at its Dresden premi?â?¿re on 26thJanuary 1911, thanks in no small part to the producer,Max Reinhardt, and within a very short time moved intothe repertoire of the world's principal opera-houses,where it is has remained. Within the first year DerRosenkavalier was given in Berlin, Vienna and Milan,and, two years later, in London and New York. Straussemploys a huge orchestra of 112 instruments, includingnineteen for an on-stage ensemble in the third act, butthe opera exemplifies the composer's desire to write a'Mozart' opera in which the blending of innocentyouthful lovers is contrasted with high and low aspectsof Viennese life. As a conductor Strauss was consideredone of the great Mozart conductors of his time, as can bewitnessed from his recordings of certain of thecomposer's symphoniesInterestingly, Strauss composed the three principalr?â??les for three sopranos and bass. (The r?â??le of Oktaviancan be and is now regularly sung by a mezzo-soprano.)The tenor voice is given slight attention except for thesmall part of the Italian Tenor in Act One. The r?â??le ofthe Feldmarschallin is one of the most challenginginterpretatively in the German repertoire, as she is onstage for whole of the first act. Furthermore Straussstated the woman was to be young and beautiful, only32 years old, but in a bad mood, thinking of herself as'old'. The young lovers Octavian and Sophie are in theirlate teens, while the Marschallin's country-bred cousinOchs, a rustic beau of 35. He is not a disgusting, vulgarmonster, and is, after all, a member of the gentry.Strauss later commented that the whole is 'Viennesecomedy, not Berlin farce'.The Decca Record Company had begun recordingcomplete operas in Vienna in June 1950, beginning withMozart's Die Entf?â??hrung aus dem Serail under JosefKrips. During the following years various other operaticprojects were undertaken with varying success. Theyear 1954, however, was significant with two operas byRichard Strauss being recor
Tracklisting
William Primrose
William Primrose
Vinay:Nbc So&Chorus:Toscanini
Vienna Po:Knappertsbusch
Vienna Po:Furtwangler
Vienna&Berlin Po:Furtwangler
Various Composer
Various (1923-1955)
