Fritz Reiner Conducts Act 2 From "Die Walküre"

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), opera, WWV 86b Act 2
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by San Francisco Opera Orchestra
with Kirsten Flagstad, Friedrich Schorr, Emanuel List, Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior
Conducted by Fritz Reiner

Fritz Reiner Conducts Act 2 From "Die Walküre",Richard Wagner,Fritz Reiner,San Francisco Opera Orchestra,Emanuel List,Friedrich Schorr,Kirsten Flagstad,Lauritz Melchior,Lotte Lehmann,Minerva,Classical,Classical Music,German/Austrian Romantic Opera,Opera,Opera / Operetta / Oratorio

Fritz Reiner Conducts Richard Strauss [Box Set]

Average customer rating:

Reiner's Chicago Richard Strauss: A Touchstone
Reiner's Strauss
NOBODY conducted Richard Strauss better!
Simply the Best

Fritz Reiner Conducts Richard Strauss [Box Set]

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | 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

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000003G5X
Release Date: 1997-04-15

Tracks:

Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Sunrise
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of The People Of The Unseen World
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of The Great Longing
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of Joys And Passions
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Dirge
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of Science
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 The Convalescent
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Dance Song And Night Song
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Night Wanderer's Song
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero's Adversaries
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero's Companion
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero's Battlefield
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero's Works Of Peace
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 The Hero's Retreat From The World And Fulfillment

Tracks:

Don Quixote, Op. 35 Introduction
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Theme: Don Quixote, The Knight Of The Sorrowful Countenance
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Sancho Panza
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation I: (The Adventure With The Windmills)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation II: (The Battle With The Sheep)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation III: (Dialogue Of Knight And Squire)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation IV: (The Adventure With the Penitents)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation V: (The Knight's Vigil)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation VI: (The False Dulcinea)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation VII: (The Ride Through The Air)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation VIII: (The Adventure With The Enchanted Boat)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation IX: (The Combat With The Two Magicians)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Variation X: (The Defeat Of Don Quixote By The Knight Of The White Moon)
Don Quixote, Op. 35 Finale: (The Death Of Don Quixote)
Don Juan, Op. 20

Tracks:

Elektra Elektra's Soliloquy: Allein! Weh, Ganz Allein
Elektra Recognition Scene: Was Willst Du, Fremder Mensche?
Elektra Finale: Elektra! Schwester! Komm Mit Uns!
Salome Dance Of The Seven Veils
Salome Final Scene: Ah! Du Wolltest Mich Nicht Deinen Mund

Tracks:

Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 Bewegt
Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 Scherzo
Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 Wiegenlied/Cradle Song
Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 Adagio
Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 Finale
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 Overture
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 Minuet
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 The Fencing Master
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 Entrance And Dance Of the Tailors
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 Entrance Of Cleonte
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 Prelude To Act II (Intermezzo)
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: Suite, Op. 60 The Dinner

Tracks:

Burleske
Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Introduction
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of The Inhabitants Of The Unseen World
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of The Great Longing
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of Joys And Passions
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Dirge
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Of Science
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 The Convalescent
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Dance Song And Night Song
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Night Wanderer's Song

Customer Reviews:

Reiner's Chicago Richard Strauss: A Touchstone.......2004-10-09

Fritz Reiner was more than a fanatical, perfectionistic musical technocrat...His greatest recordings are stamped with undeniable
humanity, humor, flexibility, even charm- apart from their
bedrock interpretative honesty and (I choose these words carefully) sheer lust for quality. All these things are represented by Reiner's fabled Living Stereo Chicago recordings of Richard Strauss.

Of course, there are gaps : no AUS ITALIEN or MACBETH, and no ALPENSINFONIE; you must turn to Rudolf Kempe's Dresden box for definitive stereo versions of these. And Reiner's only stereo versions of TOD & TILL (Vienna, 1956) are on a Decca Legends disc. Now, John Culshaw waxed enthusiastic about these sessions, because, no doubt, Reiner got the Vienna to play more accurately than Culshaw & Co. were used to hearing them play. But, overall, these versions lack the focus and sheer characterization of the 1950 RCA mono versions. (The mono TILL is finally available in the Reiner volume of GREAT CONDUCTORS OF THE 20th CENTURY. The TOD UND VERKLARUNG was available on a 1990 BMG CD, coupled with an earlier transfer of the SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA than the one in this present box. This TOD is currently available on a German BMG 2-fer ( # 74321846082), along with Reiner's '54 ZARATHUSTRA & HELDENLEBEN, and Eugen Jochum's ( ! ) TILL.)

With those details out of the way, what a LIVING STEREO treasure chest, here! And all 20-bit remastered, in that famous warm, sweet, tube-electronicish sound from the master tapes...Let's take them on, in order of recording:

The March 1954 HELDENLEBEN (just LISTEN to it, I won't waste space trying to describe it), starts off a journey into a lost world of disciplined melos and relative historical proximity to the composer himself. The '54 ZARATHUSTRA (admittedly with an orchestra-and-organ pitch clash, at the end of the Sunrise) and the SALOME DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS are still "demo" recordings...The December '54 DON JUAN is even more urgently passionate than the 1941 Pittsburgh version or the 1960 remake (which IS available, coupled with all of Reiner's Living Stereo Wagner).

The SALOME & ELEKTRA scenes, with Inge Borkh, are stupendous;
too bad RCA Victor didn't spring for one more singer and include Klytaemnestra's dream sequence- the most bone-chilling part of the score. (Search out Reiner's 1952 Met broadcast of ELEKTRA, with Astrid Varnay.)

The BURGER ALS EDELMANN Suite of April 1956 (minus the 5th & 6th movements) is one of the greatest Strauss recordings of all time: awash in tonal beauty, yet acerbic in its ruthless satire of Monsieur Jourdain. A wiseass-ness coupled with extremely disciplined culture. Which shows why he was Fritz Reiner, and we're not.

As if all that weren't enough, six months later Reiner achieves the impossible: he miraculously holds together the sprawly,
nearly-out-of-control structure of the SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA,
and brings out the humor and high spirits which this piece
MUST have if is is not to either fall apart, or come off as hopelessly trivial.

The BURLESKE of March 1957, with Byron Janis, is not without its poetic structure, and the sparks fly without ceasing- in a way almost identical with (and perhaps more fitting in) their '59 recording of Liszt's TOTENTANZ (which is available on THE REINER SOUND.) For a recording that captures more of this work's subtle wit and beauty, go to Kempe's Dresden version, with pianist Malcolm Frager.

The ROSENKAVALIER WALTZES, in an arrangement by Reiner himself, are good enough to be frustrating, because one finds one self wanting to hear ALL of this opera, with Reiner and his Chicago. (No such luck, but you CAN get Reiner's fabled 1949 MET production on imported Naxos.)

The April 1959 DON QUIOXTE, with Antonio Janigro on cello, is a spell of autumnal regret and incisive musical characterization, never tippping over into the cartoon-like.

Finally, there's the 1962 remake of ZARTHUSTRA, Reiner's very last Strauss recording...The orchestra-organ pitch clash is MUCH less severe, but, overall, it must be admitted that, both sonically and musically, the '54 version has far more electricity and characterization (i.e., "higher highs, and lower lows"). Still, the '62 version is worth having for the greater contemplative warmth which Reiner brings to the last five minutes of the score. As if Der Fritzl were contemplating his own not-too-distant end. This is so affecting that it almost makes one cease to regret that the energy/time/money put into this not-entirely-necessary remake COULD have gone into, say, a Reiner/Living Stereo ALPENSINFONIE, Beethoven's FOURTH & EIGHTH, a LE SACRE, a FIREBIRD, or a Brahms FIRST- to name some of the glaring omissions in the Reiner studio discography.

Still, these recordings opened the commercial way for other eventual treasures, such as Kempe's Dresden set and some of Szell's Cleveland Strauss.

Sadly, this set may "go," soon. Snap it up ASAP and be intrigued, enraptured, and instructed.

Reiner's Strauss.......2003-10-22

Probably no one conducted the music of Richard Strass better than Fritz Reiner. I've heard most of these recordings in other packages, including the original RCA Victor "Living Stereo" LPs. The digitally-reprocessed versions are even more astounding. The earliest of the recordings was made in March 1954 and it doesn't seem possible because the sound is every bit as good as today's digital recordings. It's a real tribute to the RCA engineers, who were experimenting with stereophonic sound using a triple track tape recorder. The 1954 "Also sprach Zarathustra" remains a milestone for intensity, drive, and excitement; the waltz sections are particularly haunting and relentless. The 1962 recording of the same piece is not as sensational as the 1954 version, perhaps because Reiner's health was failing (he died the following year), but it's still quite good. I especially like his "Dance of the Seven Veils" from "Salome"; it is one of the more intense performances of the works, perhaps only matched by Antal Dorati's 1963 recording with the Royal Philharmonic of London for a special Reader's Digest boxed set. Overall, Reiner's performances with the Chicago Symphony were only matched by Strauss' own 1944 recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded with a Magnetophon tape recorder in the Vienna State Opera House. What a shame that all those recordings are not currently available; they last appeared in a special box set of LPs issued by Vanguard.

NOBODY conducted Richard Strauss better!.......1999-03-24

Fritz Reiner was the greatest authority on the music of Richard Strauss, with the likely exception being the composer himself. RCA knew that they had the "cream of the crop" with Reiner in these works, and had the foresight to accord Reiner cutting-edge 1950's technology (early high-quality 3-track stereo), and the best available recording technicians in this country (Jack Pfeiffer, Leslie Chase, Richard Mohr, and Lewis Layton). You absolutely CANNOT go wrong with purchasing this set, for as the years go by, the pennies spent will continue to return musical dividends that will reinvest themselves with each hearing, as you learn over time just how good Reiner was with this music in comparison to others. Indicative of this was when I attended a banquet featuring National Symphony Orchestra superstar conductor Leonard Slatkin, when someone asked him what recordings he planned to make with that orchestra. He answered that he didn't plan to make recordings of the "warhorses," for why should he make a recording of Richard Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben," when Reiner said all that there is to say about it? Enough said!

The only disappointments (and they are small) are the omission of Reiner's later 1960 recording of "Don Juan" and the recordings of "Till Eulenspiegel" and "Death and Transfiguration" he made with the Vienna Philharmonic, which initially appeared on RCA Living Stereo LPs. The likely reason for the omission of the Vienna recordings is that these are currently under license to Polygram (Decca/London). Buy this set and enjoy/cherish!

Simply the Best.......1998-09-11

Except for the openings of Zarathustra, these are the absolute best recordings of these Strauss tone poems available. Even though they were recorded in the 50's and 60's the recorded sound is extremely good, sometimes better than newer recorded sound. The Chicago Brass section was born to play this music