[7/15/2012] Sunday Classics: Mr. Strauss Goes to Italy (continued)

Clemens Krauss's 1953 recording of Aus Italien was available for a while in a CD issue by Testament which undoubtedly sounded a lot better than the dub I've done below from my LP.


R. STRAUSS: Aus Italien (From Italy) (symphonic fantasy), Op. 16

Strauss actually wrote a program for Aus Italien, but this only increased the confusion that the piece was some sort of musical travelogue rather than a set of four musical impressions of Italy.

i. Auf der Campagna (In Campagna): Andante

I am assuming here that Strauss was referring to the mountain town of Campagna in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of southern Italy.)

Staatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI, recorded March 1974

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Ars Nova-Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 2000


ii. In Roms Ruinen (In Rome's Ruins): Allegro molto con brio

The Baths of Caracalla

Staatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI, recorded March 1974

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Ars Nova-Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 2000


iii. Am Strande des Sorrent (On the Beach of Sorrento): Andantino


Staatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI, recorded March 1974

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Ars Nova-Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 2000


iv. Neapolitanisches Volksleben (Neapolitan Folklife): Allegro molto

from Neapolitan Peasants Celebrating
a Saint's Feast Day, by Pieter van Hanselaere

Staatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI, recorded March 1974

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Ars Nova-Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 2000

You'll note Strauss's incorporation of "Funiculì, funiculà," which he clearly must have thought was a folksong, only to find himself on the receiving -- and losing -- end of a lawsuit by its composer, Luigi Denza.

THE COMPLETE AUS ITALIEN

I thought we would listen to the complete work in the recording from the Decca series of Strauss's major orchestral works (and one opera, Salome) conducted in 1949-53 by Strauss's friend and collaborator Clemens Krauss (1893-1954), who wrote the libretto for his last opera, Capriccio -- a series we have to presume would have continued if not for Krauss's untimely death. (The dub is from my copy of the Decca Eclipse LP issue. Apologies for the surface noise especially on side 2.)

R. STRAUSS: Aus Italien (From Italy) (symphonic fantasy), Op. 16:
i. Auf der Campagna (In Campagna): Andante
ii. In Roms Ruinen (In Rome's Ruins): Allegro molto con brio
iii. Am Strande des Sorrent (On the Beach of Sorrento): Andantino
iv. Neapolitanisches Volksleben (Neapolitan Folklife): Allegro molto


Vienna Philharmonic, Clemens Krauss, cond. Decca, recorded December 1953


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

#