Strauss, R: Festmarsch

Josephslegende by Richard Strauss is based on the Biblical tale of the adventures of Joseph in Egypt after he has been sold into slavery by his brothers. Strauss started the work in June 1912. However, in a letter of 11 September, he confided that ‘Joseph isn’t progressing as quickly as I expected. The chaste Joseph himself isn’t at all up my street, and if a thing bores me I find it difficult to set it to music. This God-seeker Joseph – he’s going to be a hell of an effort!’ Quite characteristic for Strauss, he showed far more interest in the sexual elements of the story, in which Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph and ends up committing suicide. The ballet was premiered at the Paris Opéra in May 1914, where it was presented as part of a triple bill alongside danced interpretations of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade and Schumann’s Papillons.

Strauss’s opera Feuersnot (Trial by Fire) has been interpreted as a parody of Richard Wagner’s idea of ‘redemption through love’. The opera takes place during the Midsummer Festival, where lovers swear their fidelity by leaping through the flames of a bonfire. In the story, the main character, Kunrad, is attracted to Diemut, a young girl who rejects his advances, with dire consequences. In retaliation, he persuades a sorcerer to extinguish all the fires in the town, stating that the only way to restore them is via ‘the body of a virgin in heat’. The opera concludes with the Love Scene, recorded here, in which Diemut sacrifices her virginity to Kunrad in order to release the spell on the fires. At the time of its premiere in 1901, the strong sexual theme was quite disturbing to its audiences.

Also on this disc is the Festmarsch, Op. 1, his first published orchestral work, which Strauss wrote at the tender age of twelve. Five years later he approached the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel who initially refused to take it on. Only when the work’s dedicatee, Strauss’s uncle Georg Pschorr, indicated that he would pay for the printing costs himself did they relent. Strauss’s father launched the piece at a concert given by his amateur orchestra, Wilde Gung’l, in March 1881.

The works are performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Neeme Järvi, who in 2012 celebrated his thirty-year recording career with Chandos Records.

These youthful chamber works by Richard Strauss, not widely represented on disc, are filled with sparkling inventiveness and lyricism. Written at the age of thirteen, his charming Piano Trio No. 1 follows the models of Mozart and Beethoven, and the Piano Trio No. 2 of a year later ventures beyond these sophisticated foundations. Described by The Strad as ‘exemplary’, the award-winning Amelia Piano Trio is one of the most sought after ensembles of its generation. The Trio’s recording of works by John Harbison (8559243) was hailed for ‘performances as fantastic as the compositions themselves’ (allmusic.com).

Richard Strauss was supremely a composer for the orchestra, and of opera and songs, but in his earlier years he wrote a large amount of chamber music. The young Strauss was heavily influenced by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, and it was only later that he fell under the spell of Wagner and composed the operas and programme music for which he is best known. This splendid 9-CD set of Richard Strauss’ complete chamber music encompasses a huge range of genres for a variety of instruments. Strauss’ chamber output includes solo works and miniatures, duets, trios and quartets through to concertos, symphonies and melodrama, a once-popular genre that married music with the speaking voice. Early works of note include the mellifluous String Quartet in A Op.2, some of whose themes are modelled on Mozart, and the joyous Serenade in E flat, heard here as a piano solo, already exhibiting the lush textures that were typical of the composer. The Fugue for piano, demonstrates Strauss’ increasing command of intricate counterpoint. Another major work is the Horn Concerto No.1 in E flat Op.11, the first concerto with which Strauss really made his mark, and where his genius is really starting show with its bravura and freedom from traditional formal constraints. With his last major chamber work, the Violin Sonata in E flat, we can almost find the mature Strauss.

35 CD + CD-ROM (including Stephen Jay Taylor's 'Richard Strauss: The Man and his Music')

A superb collection of some of the greatest performances of Richard Strauss’s orchestral, operatic, chamber and vocal works, brought together in a stunning 35-CD edition of fantastic value.

The collection begins with a survey of Strauss’s orchestral music, including the supremely popular symphonic poems - Don Juan, Don Quixote, Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel, Tod und Verklärung, Eine Alpensinfonie and Ein Heldenleben are included, together with comparatively rare orchestral works such as the wonderful Burlesque for piano and orchestra. These recordings, performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden and conducted by Rudolf Kempe, are a particular highlight of this box set, some of the greatest recordings of the classical catalogue.

Of Kempe’s Aus Italien, Gramophone stated:‘The Dresden orchestra play superbly and this version undoubtedly sweeps the board’. Of another release in the series, Gramophone commented: ‘the splendour of the Dresden orchestra is most impressive: at that period and under this conductor they may have had equals in this music but surely no superiors’.

An extensive survey of Strauss’s chamber music, performed by major international instrumentalists including Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano), Erno Sebestyen (violin), Wenn-Sinn Yang (cello) and the Sinnoffer Quartet.

Includes definitive performances of Strauss’s best-loved operas – Der Rosenkavelier, Elektra, Salome, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Ariadne auf Naxos plus the rarely heard Friedenstag.

In particular, Herbert von Karajan’s Der Rosenkavalier remains unsurpassed.‘It really does triumph over them all - even the outstanding 1969 Solti/Decca - and the triumph is, almost entirely, Schwarzkopf's own’, wrote Gramophone.

This comprehensive box set concludes with 3 CDs of Lieder, including the enduringly popular Four Last Songs sung by Charlotte Margiono and a disc of historical recordings accompanied by Richard Strauss on piano.

A truly unique set (the only one on the market!):The Richard Strauss Edition.

Contains a wealth of repertoire: the complete Orchestral Works, the complete Chamber Music, a generous selection of songs, the most famous operas and a disc of rare choral works.

A fitting tribute to one of the most important Late-Romantic composers, who for such a long period reflected his “Zeitgeist” in his fascinating and highly personal music.

A star studded line-up of famous Strauss interpreters: Rudolf Kempe and his Staatskapelle Dresden (a Strauss orchestra par excellence!), Herbert von Karajan, Joseph Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Karl Böhm, and vocalists Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Alessandra Marc, Deborah Voigt, Anne Sofie von Otter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Charlotte Margiono.

Containing a historical recording of songs accompanied by Richard Strauss himself on the piano.

Liner notes included on CD-ROM.