R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspiegel; Tod und Verklärung

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Certain characteristics distinguishing Herbert Blomstedt's earlier traversals of these works with the Staatskapelle Dresden are mirrored in the conductor's Bay Area remakes: mellow brass chording, pungent woodwind solos, singing strings, and freedom from interpretive excess. The recording places the orchestra at enough distance for the sonority to congeal as heard from an excellent front-row-center seat. The sonics reinforce my impression that Blomstedt is wielding a lighter, more incisive baton on this go-round. To be sure, there are more desolate, anguished Death & Transfigurations, funnier Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiches, and more cathartic Also Sprach Zarathustras out there in CD land, but there's no finer combination of these three tone poems on one disc. --Jed Distler

R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspiegel; Tod und Verklärung, Music, Richard Strauss, Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral, Orchestral & Symphonic, Romantic Tone Poem/Symphonic Poem for Orchestra
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspppiegels lustige Streiche; Tod und Verklärung
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Great Strauss, Great Price
 R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspppiegels lustige Streiche; Tod und Verklärung

Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

DancesDances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music
All Works by StraussAll Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Tone PoemsTone Poems | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
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  2. Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie
  3. Beethoven: Symphonien Nos. 5 & 7 / Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
  4. Smetana: Piano Music (Complete Czech Dances, Polkas, Dreams)
  5. Shostakovich: Ballet Suites Nos. 1-4

ASIN: B00005NPJW
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Tracks:

  1. Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30
  2. Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche, Op.28
  3. Tod Und Verklarung, Op.24
  4. Salome - Dance Of The Seven Veils

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Great Strauss, Great Price.......2003-06-08

This is a budget-line CD of Richard Strauss' Orchestral Works by the great Rudolf Kempe and the Staatskapelle Dresden. These works have previously been available on disc, and are collected along with Kempe's other brilliant Strauss recordings on a very affordable EMI box set. However, if all you want is a few of Strauss' better known pieces, this is a great place to start.
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspiegel; Tod und Verklärung
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A sonic spectacular and a tribute to Blomstedt
  • Blomstedt And The San Francisco Symphony At Their Very Best
  • A spectacular disk
 R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Till Eulenspiegel; Tod und Verklärung
Richard Strauss , Herbert Blomstedt , and San Francisco Symphony
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by StraussAll Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Tone PoemsTone Poems | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
The Decca Records StoreThe Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B000007OTP
Release Date: 1998-06-09

Tracks:

  1. Also sprach Zarathustra: I. Einleitung (Sonnenaufgang)
  2. Also sprach Zarathustra: II. Von den Hinterweltlern
  3. Also sprach Zarathustra: III. Von der gron Sehnsucht
  4. Also sprach Zarathustra: IV. Von den Freuden- und Leidenschaften
  5. Also sprach Zarathustra: V. Das Grablied
  6. Also sprach Zarathustra: VI. Von der Wissenschaft
  7. Also sprach Zarathustra: VII. Der Genesende
  8. Also sprach Zarathustra: VIII. Das Tanzlied
  9. Also sprach Zarathustra: IX. Nachtwandlerlied
  10. Tod und Verklarung, Op. 24: Death and Transfiguration
  11. Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche, Op. 28: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Amazon.com

Certain characteristics distinguishing Herbert Blomstedt's earlier traversals of these works with the Staatskapelle Dresden are mirrored in the conductor's Bay Area remakes: mellow brass chording, pungent woodwind solos, singing strings, and freedom from interpretive excess. The recording places the orchestra at enough distance for the sonority to congeal as heard from an excellent front-row-center seat. The sonics reinforce my impression that Blomstedt is wielding a lighter, more incisive baton on this go-round. To be sure, there are more desolate, anguished Death & Transfigurations, funnier Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiches, and more cathartic Also Sprach Zarathustras out there in CD land, but there's no finer combination of these three tone poems on one disc. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A sonic spectacular and a tribute to Blomstedt.......2006-05-24

The San Francisco Sym. was an also-ran among American orchestras for decades, despite its importation of major conductors like Pierre Monteux and Seiji Ozawa. It took the workmanlike Blomstedt, a great orchestra builder if not interpreter, to birng out their full potential. Today, in the acoustically renovated Davies Hall under Tilson Thomas, culture hero of the city, the SFS continues to sound almost as good as the country's premiere ensembles.

On this Strauss spectacular from 1994-95 Blomstedt loses a lot of his customary inhibitions and produces riveting readings caught in the best possible sound. For Zarathustra Decca gives us a huge dynamic range, tremendous vividness, and X ray-like detail. You find yourself thrust onstage beside the podium. It's an artificial perspective, but Strauss's gorgeously grandiose music can take it--the only competitors that come close are Telarc's Strauss tone poems under Previn with the Vienna Phil. The aural perspective there is more distant, so if you want to be right in the thick of things, this Decca collection fits the bill.

5 out of 5 stars Blomstedt And The San Francisco Symphony At Their Very Best.......2001-07-13

Dating back to his time as the chief conductor of the Dresden State Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt has always been a supreme interpreter of Richard Strauss' music, and this recording of three of Strauss' famous symphonic tone poems that he made in the mid 90s with the San Francisco Symphony is proof of that.

Blomstedt and the orchestra shine in all three works--"Also Sprach Zarathustra"; "Death And Transfiguration"; and "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks." The wit of "Eulenspiegel" is bought out quite well by the orchestra; and the metaphysical beauty of "Transfiguration" is something truly to behold, with a very poignant conclusion. And the orchestra doesn't miss a trick with "Zarathustra", which had become a staple of the classical repertoire after director Stanley Kubrick's cagey use of the opening sequence in his 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. For all the talk about the much-vaunted 1954 recording by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony, this "Zarathustra" recording matches and, arguably, even exceeds it.

The recording marked the end of this ten-year orchestra/conductor combine in which the San Francisco Symphony had become one of America's best, and Blomstedt one of the finest conductors working today. Pick it up; you won't be sorry that you did.

5 out of 5 stars A spectacular disk.......2000-11-08

This CD is like a culmination of everthing Blomstedt did for the San Francisco Symphony on record. There has been much criticism about the acoustics of Davies Symphony Hall, but on record its opulence is highly suited to the music of Richard Strauss. The Ruffatti organ was the largest concert hall organ in America at the time of its installation and the recording engineers capture its 32' rank remarkably (subwoofer sold separately). Blomstedt has been a distinguished Strauss interpreter for some time, and this recording is yet another demonstration of this. Also Sprach is clean and spacious, Death and Transfiguration is a model of orchestral balance, and Till Eulenspiegel is full of wit and virtuosity. Chicago Symphony fans might have to give it up this once!

Track Listings:

  1. Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lionheart): Troubadours & Trouvères in the Courts of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Marie de Champagne & Geoffroy, Duke of Brittany - Alla Francesca
  2. Richard Strauss: Songs
  3. Rossini - Cantatas Volume 2 / Bartoli, Flórez, Kelly, Scano, Barcellona; Chailly
  4. Saint-Saens: Concertos for violin in Bm; Lalo: Symphonie espagnole in Dm
  5. Schubert: Piano Sonata in E-flat major, D. 568, 6 Moments musicaux
  6. Schumann - The Symphonies / Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle
  7. Sibelius & Korngold Violin Concertos-Sinding Suite [Original recording remastered]
  8. Silly Classical Songs
  9. Song of Songs
  10. Sophisticated Innocence: American Novelty Piano Solos

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Twelve Rooms

Bells & Organ St Michael's Cathedral Hamburg

Believers Beware The Devil's Deception

The Montreal Tapes with the Liberation Music Orchestra [Live]

Absurd-Ditties [Import]

Deep Soul, Vol. 2

Cabaret: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1998 Broadway Revival) [Cast Recording] [Cast Recording]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 0

Artist Collection: Elvis Presley [Import]

Ben Heppner - My Secret Heart ~ Songs of parlour, stage and screen

Best of Toshiko Akiyoshi [Import]

Bailando [CD-single]

Accordion Madness

Love You Down

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