R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben Ed
Release Date: 25 August 2014
Label: Challenge Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 608917264425
Genres: Classical
Description
Contrasting symphonic poems by two apparently distant composers writing at the turn of the 20th century are featured on this Challenge Classics disc. Both works, Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben and Edgard Varèse's Amériques, are big orchestral showpieces which are recorded here in their rarely-performed original versions. Ingo Metzmacher, an authority on hidden links in music history and renowned for his innovative music programming, conducts the Deutches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Richard Strauss completed his Symphonic Poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) in 1898. It was his sixth work of this type, and exceeded all of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Despite contradictory statements on the matter by the composer himself, it is generally agreed to be autobiographical in tone: the hero of the piece is clearly the composer himself. The work contains more than thirty quotations from Strauss's earlier works.
In 1910 Edgard Varèse met Strauss in Berlin, eleven years after the premiere of Ein Heldenleben - a work that is known to have made a profound impression on the young French-born composer. Like Heldenleben, Varèse's Amériques is also a symphonic poem, and appears to show the influence of the thematic layering of Strauss' piece and his incorporation of imposing percussive elements. It was composed between 1918 and 1922 and is the earliest work we know by Varèse. What seemed quite revolutionary at the time of its first performance was the bridge set up by Varèse from traditional musical language to the world of noises, particularly those of the big city.
For more than 67 years the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin has distinguished itself as one of Germany's leading orchestras. The number of its renowned music directors, the scope and variety of its work, and its particular emphasis on modern and contemporary music makes the ensemble unique. Founded as the RIAS Symphony Orchestra in 1946, it was renamed the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin in 1956 and has borne its current name since 1993.
Personnel: Deutches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ingo Metzmacher (conductor), Wei Lu (violin)
Tracklisting
Narratio Quartet
Piano Duo Scholtes & Janssens
Matteo Cicchitti, Musica Elegentia
Cappella Pratensis, Stratton Bull, Sollazzo Ensemble
La Sfera Armoniosa, Oscar Verhaar, Mike Fentross
Simona Marchesi, Bartolomeo Dandolo Marchesi
Ben Kim, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Jan Willem de Vriend
Torleif Thedeen (cello) & Marianna Shirinyan (piano)
Oslo Kammerkor, Hakon Daniel Nystedt
Berit Norbakken (soprano) & Solmund Nystabakk (lutes)
Magnus Boye Hansen (violin), Mathias Halvorsen (piano)
Anna Gourari, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana & Markus Poschner
Gavin Bryars
Vladimir Delman; Milan RAI Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Schippers; Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai; New York Philharmonic Orchestra; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
