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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!doug
From: doug@cornell.UUCP (Douglas Campbell)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Is Richard Strauss Empty?
Message-ID: <2279@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Nov-84 14:51:14 EST
Article-I.D.: cornell.2279
Posted: Sun Nov 11 14:51:14 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Nov-84 06:47:29 EST
References: <13192@mgweed.UUCP> <242@olivej.UUCP> <1229@eosp1.UUCP> <245@olivej.UUCP>
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 30

In <245@olivej.UUCP>, greg@olivej.UUCP writes:

> It is possible for faulty interpretation to conceal the
> good qualities of a work.  . . .  However, I don't
> find this plausible as an explanation for what I've consistently
> heard as an emptiness in Strauss' music.
>
>                   . . .
>
> This sort of thing gets progressively worse as one listens
> on (if one has the patience) through "Frau Ohne Schatten",
> "Arabella", "Capriccio" etc. etc.  Nowhere is there the
> life and boldness of the best of his earlier tone poems
> ("Till Eulenspiel", "Don Juan", "Don Quixote" rather than
> the pompous, inflated "Zarathustra" and "Heldenleben")
> and the best parts of "Salome".  The skill and craftsmanship
> are always there, but the inner fire has been quenched.

I'm surprised that "Zarathustra" is characterized as 'pompus' and
'inflated'.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course,
and mine is that "Zarathustra" is a deep, searching, very moving
work, if a bit forceful.  As an example of an excellent performance,
try Karajan's 1973 performance with the Berlin Philharmonic.
To me, this performance is one of the two or three finest recordings
I have ever heard.  I frankly find "Don Juan" a bit shallow in terms
of emotional depth and pull.
					Ever a romantic,
					Doug Campbell
					doug@cornell.{ARPA|UUCP}