May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
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Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
Thanks for helping me get this started everyone. Regrettably I have managed to make myself busy three nights of this week (a very rare thing!); I hope to begin work proper on Friday pm. Apologies.
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
Good, that should give my discs time to arrive.
Nerdcave: ...is no more!
Sitting Room: Wadia 581SE - Rega Planar 3/AT VM95ML & SH - Bluesound Node II - Copland CSA 100 - Audioplan Kontrast 3
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Sitting Room: Wadia 581SE - Rega Planar 3/AT VM95ML & SH - Bluesound Node II - Copland CSA 100 - Audioplan Kontrast 3
Kitchen: WiiM Pro - Wadia 151 - B&W 685s2
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
I will be listening to the Kempe/ Tortelier version mentioned above, and this:
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Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
We are talking very high standards Sean, both, Reiner and Kempe are magnificent, superb, and it´s a gloriously, maddening difficult choice. And we haven´t even consider Szell´s great Strauss recordings, especially his sublime Don Quixote with Pierre Fournier.Seán wrote:In preference to Reiner and the CSO! WOW! It must be good.Jared wrote:Gentlemen, if like Sean you don't own Don Quixote or indeed many of the Strauss Orchestral works, then I would STRONGLY recommend the 9 CD Kempe set with the SD... it has recently been re-issued by Brilliant at a highly competitive price and is quite simply a standard-bearer in this repertoire... sooner or later, you will end up purchasing this set, so you might as well do so now...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Strauss ... 402&sr=1-1
;-)
Uh-oh! My lovely wife has just informed me that my Bach CDs arrived this morning.
And let´s not forget Karajan, who can never be easily dismissed in R. Strauss.
My own choice would be Reiner, but I could never live without the others.
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
I've had this set for a while but never really gave it a proper listen. Going to sit down now to listen to the Don Quixote.
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Michell Gyrodec SE, Hana ML cart, Parasound JC3 Jr, Stax LR-700, Stax SRM-006ts Energiser, Quad Artera Play+ CDP
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
Pepe, when I read post earlier today I was reminded that I do, of course, have a copy of von Karajan conducting the BPO in Don Quixote, it's on the EMI set:Jose Echenique wrote:We are talking very high standards Sean, both, Reiner and Kempe are magnificent, superb, and it´s a gloriously, maddening difficult choice. And we haven´t even consider Szell´s great Strauss recordings, especially his sublime Don Quixote with Pierre Fournier.Seán wrote:In preference to Reiner and the CSO! WOW! It must be good.Jared wrote:Gentlemen, if like Sean you don't own Don Quixote or indeed many of the Strauss Orchestral works, then I would STRONGLY recommend the 9 CD Kempe set with the SD... it has recently been re-issued by Brilliant at a highly competitive price and is quite simply a standard-bearer in this repertoire... sooner or later, you will end up purchasing this set, so you might as well do so now...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Strauss ... 402&sr=1-1
;-)
Uh-oh! My lovely wife has just informed me that my Bach CDs arrived this morning.
And let´s not forget Karajan, who can never be easily dismissed in R. Strauss.My own choice would be Reiner, but I could never live without the others.
"To appreciate the greatness of the Masters is to keep faith in the greatness of humanity." - Wilhelm Furtwängler
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Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
Firstly, thanks for your patience and spirited debate on the merits of various recordings so far....
...and secondly I will begin our discussion on Don Quixote, or Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character) if you prefer...
Strauss completed DQ in 1895 during a period when he was feted in the main for his tone poetry. Chronologically DQ falls just after Also sprach Zarathustra, and before Ein Heldenleben. Although not a concerto per se, it does contain detailed parts for solo cello (representing the character of Don Quixote) and solo viola (plus tuba) (Sancho Panza). As often as not you will see the section leaders of the orchestra playing these parts - although some of the previous posts also remind us that cello virtuosi have also coveted the role of Don Quixote.
Cervantes orginal novel which provides the source material was published early in the 17th century. I won't bog us down in the 'plot', but a summary is useful. To assist with this I summon forth Wikipedia:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote_de_la_Mancha
The key points regarding character are that Don Quixote himself is a Spanish gentleman from La Mancha who, taking the chivalric novels he devours as read, decides to set off on misguided adventures of his own as a knight-errant. Don Quixote is a character who, in the area of chivalry, experiences a blurring between reality and fantasy. Sancho Panza is a simple man who takes on the role of Don Quixote's manservant on the (false) basis that he will be offered governorship of an island. When the two get together, adventures ensue....
Instrumentally Strauss employs a fairly large romantic orchestra as follows -piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat (2nd doubling clarinet in E-flat), bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns in F, 3 trumpets in D and F, 3 trombones, tenor tuba in B-flat, tuba , timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, wind machine (!), harp, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
After a brief introduction the piece settles into a set of variations on a theme, which cherry pick key episodes from the novel. I will go through the work in manageable sections using the Reiner recording below: the soloists are John Weicher (cello) and Milton Preves (viola).
Introduction Don Quixote loses his sanity after reading novels about knights, and decides to become a knight-errant
The introduction doesn't settle into any particularly discernable theme but, as inidcated in the subtitle, has plenty of heroic horn calls to represent the knightly delusion, and skittering strings which remind us that Don Quixote may not be of sound mind. As far as I can judge this is a spirited and effective introduction. Initially it bounces along quite merrily, and then serene, until the aforementioned horn and strings interrupt the painstakingly evoked pastorale mood. My initial thinking is I have been too hard on poor old Richard Strauss. We shall see...
...and secondly I will begin our discussion on Don Quixote, or Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character) if you prefer...
Strauss completed DQ in 1895 during a period when he was feted in the main for his tone poetry. Chronologically DQ falls just after Also sprach Zarathustra, and before Ein Heldenleben. Although not a concerto per se, it does contain detailed parts for solo cello (representing the character of Don Quixote) and solo viola (plus tuba) (Sancho Panza). As often as not you will see the section leaders of the orchestra playing these parts - although some of the previous posts also remind us that cello virtuosi have also coveted the role of Don Quixote.
Cervantes orginal novel which provides the source material was published early in the 17th century. I won't bog us down in the 'plot', but a summary is useful. To assist with this I summon forth Wikipedia:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote_de_la_Mancha
The key points regarding character are that Don Quixote himself is a Spanish gentleman from La Mancha who, taking the chivalric novels he devours as read, decides to set off on misguided adventures of his own as a knight-errant. Don Quixote is a character who, in the area of chivalry, experiences a blurring between reality and fantasy. Sancho Panza is a simple man who takes on the role of Don Quixote's manservant on the (false) basis that he will be offered governorship of an island. When the two get together, adventures ensue....
Instrumentally Strauss employs a fairly large romantic orchestra as follows -piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat (2nd doubling clarinet in E-flat), bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns in F, 3 trumpets in D and F, 3 trombones, tenor tuba in B-flat, tuba , timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, wind machine (!), harp, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
After a brief introduction the piece settles into a set of variations on a theme, which cherry pick key episodes from the novel. I will go through the work in manageable sections using the Reiner recording below: the soloists are John Weicher (cello) and Milton Preves (viola).
Introduction Don Quixote loses his sanity after reading novels about knights, and decides to become a knight-errant
The introduction doesn't settle into any particularly discernable theme but, as inidcated in the subtitle, has plenty of heroic horn calls to represent the knightly delusion, and skittering strings which remind us that Don Quixote may not be of sound mind. As far as I can judge this is a spirited and effective introduction. Initially it bounces along quite merrily, and then serene, until the aforementioned horn and strings interrupt the painstakingly evoked pastorale mood. My initial thinking is I have been too hard on poor old Richard Strauss. We shall see...
Last edited by bombasticDarren on Fri May 04, 2012 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
^^ thanks Darren, that's a great start...
Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
You will find that, like Don Quixote, the music of R Strauss will become quite loveable once you become any way acquainted with it!!bombasticDarren wrote:.... My initial thinking is I have been too hard on poor old Richard Strauss. We shall see...
To be is to do: Socrates
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
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Re: May: R. Strauss - Don Quixote
Darren, my daughter is in the middle of year end exams at the moment so there are long periods of silence imposed in our household. I therefore cannot use my system nearly as much as I would like and I dislike using headphones. All should be restored to normal later this week where I will weigh in after I get some serious listening done to my versions of Don Quixote.
To be is to do: Socrates
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra