Do I Like Richard Strauss?
Posted by: Todd A on 26 November 2002
Ever since I began seriously listening to classical music there have been some truths I have clung to. First, I am a big fan of some of the big names, you know, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, Mahler, Stravinsky, Bartok, et al. I have always thought that the greatest of composers earned their reputations and what I have heard has validated that belief. Second, I have always thought opera boring and bloated. Third, I have always disliked some composers, chief among them the two big Dicks of classical music: Wagner and Strauss. Well, over the past several months my second truth has begun to crumble, and so has my third.
The change is most peculiar in the case of Strauss. Here's a composer I should hate. By most accounts he was a scumbag; even Hans Knappertsbusch didn't speak highly of him.* Some of his most famous pieces are trash designed to meet popular taste and lack substance. I mean, how many times does one need to hear Don Juan or Don Quixote? Then there's that Also Spake Zarathustra thing. A great opening followed by a mediocre everything else. And then his operas. Sheesh. Only Death and Tranfiguration and Metmorphosen (only when conducted by Klemperer) have struck me as substabtive or enjoyable.
But then I actually tried Salome (by Sinopoli), Elektra (by Sawallisch), and (at Ross's suggestion) Die Frau Ohne Schatten (also by Sawallisch) - which is a truly wonderful masterpiece. The man could write music. I was shocked. To be sure, his chief librettist is at least partially responsible for his success, but at least in these three operas it seems as though I have found a fine operatic composer. One of the best, in fact. Then I figured why not try a couple of others that are a little lighter, so I have managed to listen to Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos, both of which I find enjoyable if not quite up to the standard of the other three.
I will be collecting the first two operas, and perhaps Die Frau, though not to many versions are available. But what about Rosenkavalier and Ariadne? For the former I tried Erich Kleiber's recording on Decca Legends, and while the performance is good, the sound is terrible. This is the first Legends release I have heard that is almost unlistenable. The violins are so screechy and empty that I almost got a headache. For Ariadne, I had to try Levine's version, and while Kathleen Battle's singing is beautiful to behold, the performance as a whole misses the mark. So what others are worth pursuing?
Suggestions for the other three operas, or for any I missed are also welcome. Who'd a thunk it: I like Strauss.
* An anecdote that was related in Jan Swafford's Vintage Guide to Classical Music has the conductor saying something along the lines of "I knew him well. We played cards every week for forty years and he was a pig."
The change is most peculiar in the case of Strauss. Here's a composer I should hate. By most accounts he was a scumbag; even Hans Knappertsbusch didn't speak highly of him.* Some of his most famous pieces are trash designed to meet popular taste and lack substance. I mean, how many times does one need to hear Don Juan or Don Quixote? Then there's that Also Spake Zarathustra thing. A great opening followed by a mediocre everything else. And then his operas. Sheesh. Only Death and Tranfiguration and Metmorphosen (only when conducted by Klemperer) have struck me as substabtive or enjoyable.
But then I actually tried Salome (by Sinopoli), Elektra (by Sawallisch), and (at Ross's suggestion) Die Frau Ohne Schatten (also by Sawallisch) - which is a truly wonderful masterpiece. The man could write music. I was shocked. To be sure, his chief librettist is at least partially responsible for his success, but at least in these three operas it seems as though I have found a fine operatic composer. One of the best, in fact. Then I figured why not try a couple of others that are a little lighter, so I have managed to listen to Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos, both of which I find enjoyable if not quite up to the standard of the other three.
I will be collecting the first two operas, and perhaps Die Frau, though not to many versions are available. But what about Rosenkavalier and Ariadne? For the former I tried Erich Kleiber's recording on Decca Legends, and while the performance is good, the sound is terrible. This is the first Legends release I have heard that is almost unlistenable. The violins are so screechy and empty that I almost got a headache. For Ariadne, I had to try Levine's version, and while Kathleen Battle's singing is beautiful to behold, the performance as a whole misses the mark. So what others are worth pursuing?
Suggestions for the other three operas, or for any I missed are also welcome. Who'd a thunk it: I like Strauss.
* An anecdote that was related in Jan Swafford's Vintage Guide to Classical Music has the conductor saying something along the lines of "I knew him well. We played cards every week for forty years and he was a pig."