Strauss: Josephslegende Orchestral & Concertos CHANDOS SACD

Strauss: Josephslegende

Show recording details

Titles in this series

CHSA 5120

Strauss: Josephslegende

Running Time: 69:55

CD UPC: 0095115512029

Release Date: June 2013
Originally recorded in 2012

Composer (1864-1949)
Richard Strauss

Orchestra
Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Conductor
Neeme Järvi

Venue
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Producer
Brian Pidgeon

Engineer
Ralph Couzens

Engineer (Assistant)
Jonathan Cooper

Genre:
Orchestral & Concertos

Buy SACD About Reviews Media Translate Notes

Buy SACD

Our SACD's are hybrid and will play on most standard CD players

P&P for single unit's: UK=£2.4, EU=£9, World=£12

RICHARD STRAUSS

(1864-1949)

Josephslegende, Op. 63, TrV 231 (1912-14)

58:16

Action in One Act

by Harry Graf Kessler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Meinem Freunde Édouard Herrmann

Allegro moderato -

2:16

Zug und Tanz der Frauen. Allegretto -

1:22

Erste Tanzfigur. Allegro moderato -

0:25

Zweite Tanzfigur. Dasselbe Zeitmaß -

1:50

Dritte Tanzfigur. Allegro - Molto agitato - Tempo I -

3:17

Schneller als das erste Mal - Langsam -

Ziemlich langsam - Allegretto -

3:28

Allegro moderato -

0:43

Ziemlich langsam - Ziemlich lebhaft - Molto allegro -

3:32

Etwas ruhiger - Schnell -

2:34

10.

Ziemlich lebhaft - Zweite Tanzfigur - [Ziemlich lebhaft] -

1:24

11.

Etwas mäßiger - Tempo I -

1:44

12.

Dritte Tanzfigur. Lebhaft, in erregtem, aber stets gemessenem Schreiten - Etwas breiter - Allmählich

4:24

bewegter - Sehr lebhaft - Immer schwungvoler - Immer lebhafter - Tempo I - Lebhafter -

13.

Vierte Tanzfigur. Viel ruhiger, leicht schwebend -

2:42

Più mosso - Früheres Zeitmaß (leicht schwebend) - Ziemlich ruhig -

14.

Etwas lebhafter - Ruhig im Vortrag -

2:54

15.

Schneller - Ziemlich lebhaft - Allmählich fließender -

1:41

16.

Der Abend bricht herein. [ ] - Allmählich fließender -

3:50

Doppelt so langsam -

17.

Schnell -

0:55

18.

Schnell und hastig - Agitato - Ziemlich lebhaft -

4:57

Molto agitato - Immer lebhafter - Festes Zeitmaß

19.

Viel ruhiger, stets alla breve - Allmählich etwas bewegter -

1:44

20.

L'istesso tempo - Schneller - Noch schneller -

0:53

Molto agitato -

21.

Mäßig schnell - Erste Tanzfigur - Allmählich bewegter -

2:05

Zweite Tanzfigur. Sehr Schnell - Immer schneller -

22.

Mäßig bewegt - Schnell - Immer lebhafter -

2:02

Tempo I, mäßig bewegt -

23.

Sehr lebhaft - Äußerst lebhaft - Prestissimo -

2:05

24.

Allmählich etwas ruhiger - Ruhiger -

2:54

Fast doppelt so langsam beginnen, dann sofort wieder bewegter - Molto appassionato - Etwas breiter, maestoso - Schneller -

25.

Bewegt - Noch lebhafter - Etwas breit

2:17

26.

Love Scene from 'Feuerwnot', Op. 50, TrV 203 (1900-01)

5:40

Langsam - Sehr ruhig - Bewegt - Wiederum sehr ruhig - Bewegt - Agitato - Sehr leidenschaftlich bewegt - Immer lebhafter - Mäßig - Etwas bewegter

27.

Festmarsch, Op. 1, TrV 43 (1876)

6:17

in E flat major - in Es-Dur - en mi bémol majeur

Seinem lieben Onkel Herrn Georg Pschorr gewidmet

Allegro maestoso - Trio - [Allegro maestoso]

70:38

Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Conductor: Neeme Järvi

18 and 19 September 2012

About

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 album 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.

My Wish List