Strauss - Friedenstag (Day of Peace) / Weikl, Hass, Rootering, Moll, Kuhn, Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sawallisch

Amazon.com
Premiered in 1939, Strauss's opera Friedenstag is his last major work to be recorded by a major label and, not coincidentally, the closest he came to socialist realism. The plot is so simple as to be virtually nonexistent: a 17th-century Catholic village under siege by Protestants is about to capitulate when help arrives. The libretto didn't exactly fire the composer's imagination, but he used a lot of Elektra-like unresolved dissonances to convey the cries of the starving populace and wrote his own version of Wagner's Siegfried-Brünnhilde love duets in the extended interplay between the Commandant and his sympathetic wife, Maria. It's not an important chapter in the Strauss oeuvre, but a distinctive one, with Strauss trying to meet the subject halfway through a leaner musical language but still hanging onto a literary integrity that makes it seem unusually overwritten. Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch makes a passionate, polished case for the opera; the two main roles are knowingly and artistically sung by Bernd Weikl and the late Sabine Hass in a package that's altogether more convincing than the Robert Bass recording on Koch made in 1989. However, Strauss completists must hear the sonically compromised but more authoritative world premiere (now out of print), found on Koch/Schwann's Vienna State Opera Live series, with Hans Hotter and Viorica Ursuleac in the main roles, Clemens Krauss in the pit, and Adolf Hitler in the audience. --David Patrick Stearns

Strauss - Friedenstag (Day of Peace) / Weikl, Hass, Rootering, Moll, Kuhn, Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sawallisch,Richard Strauss,Wolfgang Sawallisch,Bernd Weikl,Sabine Hass,Jan-Hendrik Rootering,Alfred Kuhn,Kurt Moll,Bayerischen Rundfunks Orchester,Angel Records,Classical,Classical Music,German/Austrian Romantic Opera,Opera,Opera / Operetta / Oratorio

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Average customer rating: Rare Strauss. Great Marc. A little known gem, and glorious.

Strauss - Friedenstag / Alessandra Marc Manufacturer: Koch ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Cassinelli, Ricardo | ( C ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000001SET Release Date: 1995-01-25

Tracks:

1. Opening - Collegiate Chorale Orch
2. La Rosa - Ruben Broitman
3. Ein fieger Bursch - Peter Van Derick
4. Trauermarsch: Wegtreten von den Scharften - William Wildermann
5. Hier ist des Kaisers Boden - Roger Roloff
6. Sieg! Welch ein Fanal - Roger Roloff
7. Der Kaiser hat Recht - KAREN WILLIAMS
8. Ihr Alten habt in mancher Schlacht - Roger Roloff
9. Nie war ich Kampfer - George Shirley
10. Die Pulverfasser und Feuer - Roger Roloff
11. Nein leere Hoffnung - Alessandra Marc
12. Der Kaiser stand im Saal - Roger Roloff
13. Erwunschtes Zeichen! - Roger Roloff
14. Nein, nicht - Alessandra Marc
15. Das Zeichen - Richard Cassily
16. Marsch - Collegiate Chorale Orch
17. Friede! Friede! - KAREN WILLIAMS
18. Geliebter, nicht das Schwart! - Alessandra Marc
19. Sei uns Gegrusst - The Collegiate Chorale
20. Warum Kampften Wir - Roger Roloff/Terry Cook
21. Wagt es denken - Cast

Customer Reviews:

Rare Strauss. Great Marc........1999-01-21

Rare Strauss is always fun to get to hear, even if Strauss spends a lot of time with male voices in not very interesting music. But wait for Alessandra Marc. A huge, incredible, unique voice that blew me away.

A little known gem, and glorious........1998-11-08

This little known and not oft-performed Strauss gem -- in a live performance from Carnegia Hall -- is simply glorious. Ms. Marc is in wonderful voice, as she was when she sung this at Santa Fe a number of years ago. A must for Strauss fans.

Average customer rating: Enthusiastic Voigt's Singing,Uninspired Strauss' Opera

Richard Strauss: Friedenstag Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Strauss - Intermezzo / Popp, Fischer-Dieskau, Dallapozza, Fuchs, Finke, Moll, Raimund Grumbach, Hirte, Wilsing, Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sawallisch Guntram Strauss - Die Liebe der Danae / Flanigan, Coleman Wright, Sotin, W. Lewis, Saffer, ASO, Botstein Renée Fleming - Strauss: Daphne ASIN: B00005O44B Release Date: 2002-05-14

Tracks:

1. Hast Was Gesehn
2. Rosa Ch'e Un Bel Fiore
3. Hunger Ich Hore Was
4. Hunger- Brot Hier Ist Des Kaisers Boden
5. Mein Kommnadant - Rede
6. Es Sei Doch Hort
7. Zu Magdeburg In Der Reiterschlacht
8. Geht Geht Alle
9. Wie Neimand Hier
10. Nein Leere Hoffnung Alles
11. In Einer Stunde Verschwindet Diese Stadt
12. Der Kaiser Stand Im Saal
13. Erwunschtes Zeichen Auf Eure Posten
14. Nein Nicht Todesnebel
15. Der Feind Der Feind Wo Steht Sein Angriff
16. Das Zeichen Das Zeichen Das Ihr Uns Verhiebet
17. Wo Ist Der Mann Des Krieges Bester Held
18. Geliebter Nicht Das Schwert
19. Warum Kampften Wir Jahre Um Jahre
20. Wagt Es Zu Denken

Customer Reviews:

Enthusiastic Voigt's Singing,Uninspired Strauss' Opera.......2005-02-17

Not the best Strauss' music ever but a very deserving recording by late Sinopoli and his team.This "Day of Peace" was conceived during NazisxStrauss crisis because his collaboration with jewish Stefan Zweig,then replaced by livret writer Joseph Gregor.By listening "Friedenstag",it's possible to realize that Strauss didn't like Gregor's lines;in despite of some interesting achievements(the people-choir beseeching for food,the reconciliation between the two rivals commandants))this one act-opera reserves its best music bars to Maria,the only character that has a name(others gain patents,only).I supposed this recording should be a must have to Voigt's admirers;there're another cd version with Alessandra Marc but surely,Maria is just perfect to Voigt's singing and she fulfils a so enthusiastic performance that listener will be intoxicated by her vocal radiance and that big amount of hot top C's on final.Her phrasing over "But a day must come when waiting ends;beloved,I want the truth!I want you!" is one of the most beautiful I heard on discs ever.I didn't like her partner,Albert Dohmen(the Commandant)'cause I think he has a strange vocal texture or,in another words,a rough voice,besides that exaggerated diction on surrender scene.Botha sings well finished his poetical and italianate character and Sinopoli pulls out the best of this score with his fine orchestra and chorus.Like a huge Strauss fan,I think this cd an absolutely unmissable one.

Average customer rating: Top flight recording of mediocre Strauss

Strauss - Friedenstag (Day of Peace) / Weikl, Hass, Rootering, Moll, Kuhn, Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sawallisch Richard Strauss , Wolfgang Sawallisch , Bernd Weikl , Sabine Hass , Jan-Hendrik Rootering , Alfred Kuhn , Kurt Moll , and Bayerischen Rundfunks Orchester Manufacturer: Angel Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Die Schweigsame Frau R. Strauss: Elektra ASIN: B00001SVLU Release Date: 1999-10-05

Tracks:

1. Friedenstag: Hast was gesehn? - Morgen dammert
2. Friedenstag: La rosa, la rosa che un bel fiore
3. Friedenstag: Hunger! Hunger!
4. Friedenstag: Hier ist des Kaisers Boden
5. Friedenstag: Sieg! Welch ein Fanal
6. Friedenstag: (Krieg!)...Mein Kommandant!
7. Friedenstag: Schweige! Hier in meiner Hand
8. Friedenstag: Es sei! Doch h
9. Friedenstag: Ihr Alten habt in mancher Schlacht
10. Friedenstag: Zu Magdeburg in der Reiterschlacht
11. Friedenstag: Geht, geht alle!
12. Friedenstag: Wie? Niemand hier?
13. Friedenstag: Nur einer hier in diesen wilden Turm
14. Friedenstag: Wohl durft ich dir den Harnisch l
15. Friedenstag: Nein -- leer Hoffnung alles!
16. Friedenstag: In einer Stunde verschwindet diese Stadt
17. Friedenstag: Krieg, furchtbarer W- Krige, herrlicher Gedanke
18. Friedenstag: Erwes Zeichen!
19. Friedenstag: Nein, nicht Todesnebel!
20. Friedenstag: Der Feind, der Feind!
21. Friedenstag: Das Zeichen, das Zeichen
22. Friedenstag: Marsch - Wo ist der Mann
23. Friedenstag: HKommandant
24. Friedenstag: Geliebter, nicht das Schwert!
25. Friedenstag: Warum kften wir Jahre
26. Friedenstag: Wagt es zu denken

Amazon.com

Premiered in 1939, Strauss's opera Friedenstag is his last major work to be recorded by a major label and, not coincidentally, the closest he came to socialist realism. The plot is so simple as to be virtually nonexistent: a 17th-century Catholic village under siege by Protestants is about to capitulate when help arrives. The libretto didn't exactly fire the composer's imagination, but he used a lot of Elektra-like unresolved dissonances to convey the cries of the starving populace and wrote his own version of Wagner's Siegfried-Brünnhilde love duets in the extended interplay between the Commandant and his sympathetic wife, Maria. It's not an important chapter in the Strauss oeuvre, but a distinctive one, with Strauss trying to meet the subject halfway through a leaner musical language but still hanging onto a literary integrity that makes it seem unusually overwritten. Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch makes a passionate, polished case for the opera; the two main roles are knowingly and artistically sung by Bernd Weikl and the late Sabine Hass in a package that's altogether more convincing than the Robert Bass recording on Koch made in 1989. However, Strauss completists must hear the sonically compromised but more authoritative world premiere (now out of print), found on Koch/Schwann's Vienna State Opera Live series, with Hans Hotter and Viorica Ursuleac in the main roles, Clemens Krauss in the pit, and Adolf Hitler in the audience. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Top flight recording of mediocre Strauss.......2001-09-09

Maybe it's too early to be making this sort of judgement, but I'm increasingly coming to the view that the greatest 20th Century composer was Richard Strauss. The man has his faults: I wish Strauss wasn't so fluent at producing music when he had nothing much to say, so good at "note-spinning", as his wife Pauline used to call it... And that he was less modest: for example in opera he believed that Hugo von Hoffmanthal was an equally great artist, and toned back his orchestral power so that von Hoffmanthal's words could be clearly heard. That was a mistake. His modesty made him try less hard, as a composer, than he should have: he seems to have had the gifts to write greater music than he gave us.

He thought of himself as "one of the best second-rate composers" but his best work in a range of formats, song, chamber, orchestral and operatic, is second to none in the great German tradition. And there is no other music from the 20th century to rival his best work. In particular he was a composer who could do things with an orchestra, and especially with an orchestra and a soprano, that no other composer could do. Not even Wagner. Not even Mozart.

And it seems that I'm not the only one to be radically up-grading Strauss from the slightly patronising regard musicologists have been awarding him for the last 40-50 years. There is a full-scale revival in effect. So we are finding the obscure works come out from obscurity and into high-quality recordings.

And as part of the market for that Strauss revival I'm prepared to listen to anything from "Little Richard" and to expect it to reward attention. It's part of the re-writing of the history of 20th century music, in which the academically approved people who wrote music that went "click buzzzt-whirr nee-naw-nee-naw", and so on, are fading away at the speed of French deconstructionists. The music-buying audience has pretty much rejected the 2nd Vienna School party-line and discovered the 20th century composers who wrote music that rewards attention and sounds good.

This is the context for this review: my willingness to listen to even neglected Strauss, and the fact that this quickly-forgotten opera is now available in two competing recordings.

Robert Bass's account, with James Woods as the Commandant, on the Koch label, can be quickly dismissed. The Bass-conducted set was an unambitious project, simply intent on filling a gap in the catalogue, offering lack-lustre singing, playing and recording.

And now we have the Sawallisch. (There is also a historical recording of the work's premiere, which is not currently available, and which I haven't heard). I can certainly say, having heard two currently available recordings, that the Sawallisch recording is the one to get. It is the best possible advocacy this opera could have, a fully-committed performance that treats this ordinary work as if it were a great one.

Sawallisch and his cast, including Bernd Weikl as the Kommandant and Sabine Hass as the Wife, make the best of the opera's advantages: some nicely discordant writing for the chorus's cries of hunger early in the opera, lushness for the scenes between the Kommandant and his wife, and a full and clear choral sound at the end, for the hymn of celebration when peace is finally achieved.

It's almost enough to have you overlook the fact that the atonal choral effects for the hungry crowd are received, cliched; the music for baritone Kommandant and soprano wife is superbly orchestrated (naturally; Strauss wouldn't know how to orchestrate unimaginatively), but melodically extremely sparse; and the closing choral hymn is likewise an assemblage of effects without much in the way of real inspiration. But those closing choral pages are the best music in this opera.

I once read a review comparing the close of _Friedenstag_ to the end of _Fidelio_; but the comparison is one that shows up the weakness of this opera at every point; in characterisation, in melody, in emotional impact, and so on.

So: in sum, I came to this recording honestly pre-disposed to be impressed and to enjoy. And I can report that it is a very good performance. But it is Richard Strauss on auto-pilot, his composing hand writing skilfully while the well of inspiration was temporarily dry. There are some rewards here, but mostly this is one for Strauss opera completists.

Cheers!

Laon

Average customer rating:

Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos; Arabella Manufacturer: Koch Schwann (Germ.) ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000001SV2 Release Date: 1995-01-24

Tracks:

1. Arabella, Act 1: Aber der Richtige, wenn's einen gibt fur mich - Viorica Ursuleac/Margit Bokor
2. Arabella, Act 2: So flieBt die helle, stille Donau mir am Haus vorbei-Und du wirst mein Gebieter... - Alfred Jerger/Viorica Ursuleac
3. Arabella, Act 2: Fand ein Madchen, weiB nicht, wessen Tochter - Alfred Jerger/Adel Kern/Gertrude Runger/Richard Mayr/Chorus
4. Arabella, Act 3: ...hat eine groBe Macht mich engeruhrt-Und diesen unberuhrten Trank - Viorica Ursuleac/Alfred Jerger
5. Friedenstag: Fest-Fanfare-Ansage - Orchestra
6. Friedenstag: Hast was gesehn? Morgen dammert - Herbert Alsen/Josef Witt
7. Friedenstag: La rosa, la rosache un bel fior-In deiner Heimat ist Friede, sag? - Anton Dermota/Josef Witt/Hermann Wiedemann/Carl Bissuti/Nikolaus Zec/Chorus
8. Friedenstag: Hunger! Hunger! Brot!-Der Burgermeister dieser Stadt - Josef Witt/Hermann Wiedemann/Herbert Alsen/Nikolaus Zec/Carl Bissuti/Chorus
9. Friedenstag: Hier ist des kaiser boden!-Welch ein Fanal-Der Kaiser hat recht-Segen uber Euch... - Hans Hotter/Willy Franter/Viktor Madin/Georg Monthy/Mela Bugarinovic/Franz Schramm/Erich Majkut/...
10. Friedenstag: Zu Magdeburg in der Reiterschlacht - Hans Hotter/Herbert Alsen/Hermann Wiedemann/Josef Witt/Chorus
11. Friedenstag: Nie war ich Kampfer, nie ein Held-Geht, geht alle - Herbert Alsen/Hans Hotter/Carl Bissuti/Nikolaus Zec/Chorus
12. Friedenstag: Befehl! Ans Werk!-Wie? Niemand hier? - Hans Hotter/Viorica Ursuleac
13. Friedenstag: Nein! Leere Hoffnung alles!-Maria, du?-Geliebter, gib mir die Wahrheit!-Mich... - Viorica Ursuleac/Hans Hotter

Tracks:

1. Friedenstag: Haltet mir diese Stadt-Herrlich ist der Ehre Gebot - Hans Hotter/Viorica Ursuleac
2. Friedenstag: Erwunschtes Zeichen! - Hans Hotter/Herbert Alsen/Chorus
3. Friedenstag: Nein, nicht Todesnebel-Die Glocke! So klingt nicht eine in dieser Stadt - Viorica Ursuleac/Herbert Alsen/Hermann Wiedemann/Josef Witt/Hans Hotter/Hermann Gallos/Willy...
4. Friedenstag: Wo ist der Mann-Hor, Kommandant - Karl Kamann/Hans Hotter/Viorica Ursuleac/Chorus
5. Friedenstag: Geliebter, nicht das Schwert!-Sei uns gegruBt, du neuer Herrscher - Viorica Ursuleac/Willy Franter/Viktor Madin/Chorus
6. Friedenstag: Warum kampften wir Jahre um Jahre?-Wagt es zu denken, wagt zu vertrauen - Hans Hotter/Karl Kamann/Viorica Ursuleac/Soli/Chorus
7. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Prelude: Mein Herr Haushofmeister - Alfred Jerger/Else Schulz/Adele Kern
8. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Prelude: ...singt und tanzt-Nach meiner Oper! - Alfred Jerger/Else Schulz/Adele Kern
9. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Prelude: Sie meint zu sterben-Ein Augenblick ist wenig - Else Schulz/Adele Kern/Alfred Jerger
10. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera: Bald aber naht ein Bote - Anny Konetzni
11. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera: So war es mit Pagliaccio - Adele Kern
12. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera: Auf dieser Insel Gibt's hubsche Platze - Alfred Poell/William Wernigk/Alfred Vogel/Richard Sallaba/Adele Kern
13. Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera: Ich gruBe dich, du Bote aller Boten-Sprach ich von einem Trank-Die Hohle.. - Anny Konetzni/Set Svanholm/Dora Komarek/Elena Nikolaidi/Elisabeth Rutgers/Adele Kern

Average customer rating:

Strauss:Friedenstag Dohmen , Voigt , and Reiter Manufacturer: Msi Music Corp ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0000DEP9A Release Date: 2002-07-23

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