Combining the alpha and the omega of Richard Strauss’s music, Trio Arnold, Nathanaël Gouin and their partners from the budding French chamber music scene invite us on a journey as astonishing as it is sublime to the end of German Romanticism, from the radiant energy of the Piano and String Quartet to the twilight elegance of Metamorphosen.

This CD features Finnish star soprano Soile Isokoski and her longstanding duo partner Marita Viitasalo, piano, with a selection of Lieder by Richard Strauss. Soile Isokoski is hailed as one of the finest singers in the world whose recordings have been praised as top-choice and garnered the highest distinctions at the BBC Music Magazine Awards, Gramophone Awards and MIDEM Classical Awards.

During the summer of 1883 Richard Strauss composed two large-format orchestral works in traditional genres, the lengthy Concert Overture in C minor and the Symphony in F minor op. 12, both of them also with the same instruments. The overture is anything but a secondary effort; it also cannot be understood as a simple »work of his youth.« Although the key and the opening stance of the overture clearly point to Beethoven’s Coriolanus Overture, the subliminal irritations, frictions, surprises, and saliencies already present here become even much more apparent in the symphony. As in the overture, so too in the symphony: the composer abstains from any sort of allusions to content, and – even more strikingly – he does not include a dedication, even though the work was immediately published. And the finale pursues an unusual course, not with a breakthrough but over a festive path leading to a hymnic theme followed by an absolutely wild conclusion. Following our release of early chamber music by Richard Strauss, we are now presenting two more significant early works by him!

A radically systematic logic stunningly manifested itself quite early in the music of Richard Strauss. He avoided the instrumental genres, was attracted to the tone poem right from the very start, and worked toward the goal of making the opera his central focus. And yet his beginnings lay in chamber music, a fact demonstrated on this release with two examples in new recordings. The Piano Trio No. 2 is lengthier than its predecessor and very ambitious both in its tonal register and execution. The formal norms – sonata form, song form, scherzo, and then another sonata movement – are upheld with completeness and elegance. The piano trio had a long line of tradition going back to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but the composer who set standards in the middle of the nineteenth century is particularly clearly recognizable here in a model function: Mendelssohn. Only about seven years passed between this trio and Strauss’s only Piano Quartet, but in 1885 too he was still a very young composer. The quartet displays impressive advances in technique; now Strauss apparently could draw on all the compositional resources then available, and the higher virtuosic demands on the instrumentalists are also quite evident. Strauss attracted the greatest attention with his large-format op. 13 lasting almost forty minutes, a work that even brought him a prize from the Berliner Tonkünstlerverein.

It is really not at all surprising that a composer of dance music might eventually get around to writing a full-length dance composition. But did you know this: that the music for the full-length ballet Aschenbrödel (Cinderella) amounts to the swan song of Johann Strauss? Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to complete the work. Before his death he had orchestrated the first act and half of the third act. The versed ballet composer Josef Bayer was assigned the task of completing the work, and he used the extensive sketches to produce a performable version. Over the years a lot of new source material has surfaced. On the basis of these sources the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna has made a new recording of this work so very rich in melodies. The result is also a sort of rediscovery of Aschenbrödel. Our conductor is the Strauss specialist Ernst Theis.

Markus Poschner has skyrocketed to the top, with the German Conducting Prize in 2004 in particular furthering his career. Ever since then he has also regularly performed as a guest with orchestras of the greatest national and international renown. In the 2017/18 season he will succeed Dennis Russell Davies as the opera director at the Linz State Theater and principal conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz. Poschner became the principal conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana at the beginning of the current season and now is dedicating his premiere with this orchestra on the present CD to two compositions by Richard Strauss directly related to Lugano. Along with the Suite op. 60 with the incidental music to Der Bürger als Edelmann of 1917, Poschner conducts the Duet Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Strings penned by Strauss much later, in 1947, for the Lugano Orchestra and also premiered by him there. The attractive historic(al) bonus tracks include selections (Four Songs for Soprano and Orchestra by Strauss) from precisely this concert conducted by the composer on 11 June 1947 (his birthday!) as well as the concert address delivered by Bernhard Paumgartner on the same occasion.

Just after the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth, CPO are releasing a concert performance of his rarely performed sung poem "Feuersnot" under the baton of Ulf Schirmer. The satirist Ernst von Wolzogen, who wrote the libretto for this "Bavarian burlesque" founded the first literary cabaret in Berlin, the Ueberbrettl.

Prinz Methusalem is now the 3rd discovery of an unknown operetta by Strauss on cpo. Strauss deliberately designed his Methusalem for the Paris stage. After a French version of Die Fledermaus was already in preparation, he set his hopes on his very first Paris premiere, but the contract was never signed, with the result that this operetta first saw the light of the stage world in Vienna.

Richard Strauss’s Josephs Legende is a ballet in one act composed for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1914. Fabrice Bollon conducts the Staatskapelle Halle in a work of alluring sensuality and soaring themes.

REVIEW:

All in all, the result is a thoroughly suggestive interpretation, which of course cannot completely take over the scenic element. Nevertheless, the dramaturgical contours are beautifully worked out, and everything leads up to the apotheosis, when Joseph and the Archangel disappear into other spheres. Once again, Fabrice Bollon allows the Staatskapelle Halle to make full use of its potential and to immerse itself in the story, which is not always the case in the tutti passages, which sound somewhat distant – perhaps in order to avoid any pathos. Nevertheless, this remains a rewarding recording of Richard Strauss’ first ballet score.

-- Pizzicato

As the Staatskapelle Berlin begins to look for its next music director (only the fourth since 1955!), this release finds the band’s own winds turning to Richard Strauss, who held the job some 110+ years ago. Together, they recorded their old chief conductors’ complete music for winds, including rarities like the Sonatinas “From an Invalid’s Workshop” and “The Happy Workshop” which Strauss dedicated to Mozart. Covering Strauss’ very early and very late creative output, the four pieces (plus the Eulenspiegel arrangement), give a fascinating insight into the development of Strauss, a horn player’s son.

REVIEW:

More Richard Strauss here in this comprehensive release which shows a range of different music for different combinations of wind. There are moments of lightness and drama here, the juxtaposition of which is highlighted for me in the 3rd movement of the Suite in B flat major for 13 wind instruments – light, playful flutes sit alongside the more demonstrative brass with its repeated downward motive which has a slightly sinister feel. Music that should be more widely heard.

-- Lark Reviews

Capriccio Encore is a series of re-releases of the most famous recordings from Capriccio’s back catalogue, fully re-mastered and competitively priced. The legendary recordings of artists such as Sandor Végh, Ton Koopman, Sir Neville Marriner and the Vienna Boys’ Choir also contain repertoire highlights that have a particularly special appeal, from the baroque to the present day. This Encore release features iconic works by Richard Strauss performed by the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, lead by Sir Neville Marriner.

REVIEW:

It is certainly the case that there have been many recordings of Die Fledermaus , perhaps not quite as many as Strauss’s “Blue Danube” Waltz, but still quite a significant number. Contemporary listings put the total of commercial recordings of this perennial favorite at about 25, with another 10 or so on video. Not as impressive perhaps, when compared to La traviata or Carmen , but quite a large number for a mere operetta. Johann Strauss II’s most popular stage work has proved to be also the most popular of all operettas. So much so that we may ask “do we really need another recording of Die Fledermaus ?” Well, no, we probably don’t; there are some fine sets out there with some very famous singers. At least that was my thinking going into this review.


But what we are given here is a sparkling little gem. Recorded for radio broadcast in Cologne, Germany in 2010, it never puts a foot wrong. The singing, with choral and orchestral accompaniment is nearly ideal. Of course, it is cut to fit a time slot, probably 90 minutes, and there is virtually no dialogue, hence no jailer Frosch. Other internal cuts are also taken, repeats and second verses, but none particularly missed. The waltz music that usually replaces Strauss’s ballet in the party act is here cut to under two minutes. But the music we do hear is all performed quite excellently, as strong an overall performance as I have heard, particularly for an operetta where you often encounter some lesser talents. I listened to the current Met version last month; this Capriccio disc is better. All of the ladies sing very well, as do the men. You can see who they all are in the headnote above. Except for Rainer Trost, none is particularly well known. Tenor Trost sings the role of Alfred just as well as Nicolai Gedda did, high praise indeed, although some of his act III antics are cut. Perhaps the Prince Orlofsky of Natascha Petrinsky is not quite what one hears from a Brigitte Fassbaender, but that is my only quibble, musically.


I do not propose to waste your time comparing this disc to 25 others, but if you want it on audio my advice is to get it in German and get one with dialogue. English librettos are quite easy to obtain for this operetta to allow you to follow along. Most of the English sung versions are not really serviceable, missing the Gemütlichkeit of the German original. Of course, my general observation about operettas applies here as well: It’s better to watch ‘em. Of the 10 versions of Fledermaus on video there are several good ones, some with so many guest appearances in the party scene you forget what’s going on. This Capriccio disc is probably not a game changer in the overall pantheon; it is cut and has no dialogue. But, as I said, it is a little jewel, 90 minutes of unadulterated pleasure, and I am certainly keeping my copy. Recommended.


FANFARE: Bill White

On his fourth recording in two years, tenor Daniel Behle performs Strauss’ lieder: “I am a lyrical Tenor and as such, one just gets introduced to the Schöne Müllerin, later to the Dichterliebe and eventually to the Winterreise (although I allow myself more time for that one) in the course of one’s studies. At the moment I am quite happy to have opened another page besides the lightly lyrical: to dip into the late romantic era and to discover the outgoing, active and hands-on aspects of the period.”

Singer Asmik Grigorian has chosen to record both versions of Richard Strauss's ultimate masterpiece, composed in 1948: the version with orchestra and the much rarer version with piano. For her, this work is associated with the idea of solitude, but not an unhappy solitude, rather a journey towards infinity: "Now all my senses long to sink into slumber. And the soul, unguarded, longs to soar up in freedom, so that, in night’s magic circle, it may live deeply and a thousandfold." writes Hermann Hesse in Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep), the third song in the cycle. For this unique coupling, Asmik is joined by two long-time accomplices: conductor Mikko Franck, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and pianist Markus Hinterhauser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. The combination of the two versions opens up new sensations: after the well-known abundance of Strauss's orchestration an incredible sensitivity is revealed by the piano version.