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Strauss: Josephslegende - Järvi

Strauss: Josephslegende - Järvi

Chandos  CHSA 5120

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


Richard Strauss:
Josephslegende
Love Scene from Feuersnot
Festmarsch

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Neeme Järvi


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.

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Review by Graham Williams - June 7, 2013

During the 1980's and 90's Neeme Järvi made a number of impressive recordings with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Chandos of orchestral works by Richard Strauss. When he moved to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra he added further Strauss recordings to his already comprehensive survey of this composer's oeuvre. One of these was the 'Symphonic Fragment from Josephslegende'. This is a cut-and-paste version of the full ballet, scored for a smaller orchestra, that Strauss made at the request of his publishers in 1947. Now, in the Indian summer of his recording career, Järvi has returned to Scotland to give us not just a spectacular account of the complete 1914 'Josephslegende' but also two interesting fill-ups making their first appearance on SACD.

Though few would deny that 'Josephslegende' is not among Strauss's finest works (by 1914 composing opera had become his main interest) it does show a composer at the height of his powers and demonstrates his ability to handle huge orchestral forces with supreme confidence. The orchestration is breathtaking and the work's melodic richness is undeniable. On disc it calls for the finest sound quality, something that only SACD can deliver.

Comparisons with Ivan Fischer's excellent 2007 recording Strauss: Josephs Legende - Fischer do favour the newcomer in at least two important respects. The sonics on this Chandos disc (5.0 surround sound 24-bit/96kHz) are warmer and fuller than those on Channel's clear, but slightly chilly DSD recording and the weighty presence of an organ in the ballet's final section is patently audible. Perhaps more importantly, Järvi's more urgent tempi and sense of drama ensure that the intrinsic lack of inspiration evident in parts of the score is more easily ignored - overall timings are Järvi 58.16 against Fischer's 64.30. The playing of the RSNO is marvellous throughout and certainly matches that of the Budapest Festival Orchestra for Fischer.

Strauss's rarely performed second opera 'Feuersnot' ends with an orchestral passage during which the hero and heroine consummate their love to evocative and erotically charged music. The RSNO and Järvi perform this 'Liebesszene' with sensitivity and passion in equal measure.

Finally Järvi gives us a spirited account of the 12 year-old Strauss's first published orchestral piece the 'Festmarsch' Op. 1.Though lacking real originality ( its debt to the finale of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony being all too obvious) it does show remarkable assurance from one so young, and is certainly worth an occasional outing.

It would be wonderful if Chandos could persuade Järvi to make a complete recording of Strauss's only other ballet 'Schlagobers' on SACD to complement his earlier CD version of excerpts from that work. For now, however, this is a release that should be added to the library of all committed Straussians and warrants an unqualified recommendation.

Copyright © 2013 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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Sonics (Multichannel):

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