{"id":24717,"date":"2015-01-08T20:36:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T01:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=24717"},"modified":"2015-01-08T20:36:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T01:36:29","slug":"dvd-review-andris-nelsons-pays-homage-to-strauss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/01\/08\/dvd-review-andris-nelsons-pays-homage-to-strauss\/","title":{"rendered":"DVD REVIEW | Andris Nelsons Pays Homage to Strauss"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andris
Andris Nelsons, conductor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andris Nelsons conducts\u00a0Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel, and Macbeth.\u00a0Recorded at the Royal Concertgebouw, 2013 (Also sprach Zarathustra) and 2014 (Macbeth, Till Eulenspiegel)\u00a0Blu-ray DVD 719004<\/a>. Running time:\u00a080 min.<\/p>\n

Andris Nelsons is only 36 but already he has emerged as one of the leading conductors of his generation. After an extensive search he was chosen to head the Boston Symphony, one of the world\u2019s finest orchestras. He recently concluded his tenure as music director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra \u2013 Simon Rattle\u2019s old band until he went to Berlin \u2013 and he is in demand at the Met and virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. This new DVD finds him on the podium in front of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and this remarkable orchestra has never sounded better.<\/p>\n

Unlike many conductors Nelsons is a joy to watch. But the often extravagant gestures rarely seem affected or superfluous. Nelsons is clearly a man who loves music and can hardly contain himself when he conducts. He often conducts from a crouch but my impression is that being a tall man who is short-sighted Nelsons needs to crouch to see the score. His facial expressions while conducting remind me of a young boy on Christmas morning; he just can\u2019t believe what he is seeing \u2013 or hearing in Nelson\u2019s case \u2013 and the experience fills him with wonder and joy.<\/p>\n

But the important point is that this child-like wonder he brings to his conducting is effective in getting an orchestra to do what he wants. And there is no doubt about this. In Also Sprach<\/em> Zarathustra<\/em> the members of the Royal Concertgebouw play like men and women possessed. It is exciting music-making, but it is also very disciplined. Balances have been carefully rehearsed and the quiet passages are executed with infinite care. This is a wonderful performance.<\/p>\n

Till Eulenspiegel <\/em>is also excellent with superb horn and e-flat clarinet solos. But it seems to me that the performance I heard recently by Eschenbach and the Vienna Philharmonic from last summer\u2019s concert in Sch\u00f6nbrunn was even better. It is also available on DVD (Sony).<\/p>\n

Macbeth<\/em> is one of Strauss\u2019 early tone poems and it is rarely played or recorded. And compared to Till Eulenspiegel<\/em>, Don Juan<\/em> and all the rest it is an inferior piece. Speaking personally, I have never much liked it. The present performance makes the best possible case for Macbeth<\/em> but I doubt that many listeners rushed out the Concertgebouw afterwards to buy a recording of the work. I also doubt that more than a handful of people in the hall could have hummed a few bars of Macbeth <\/em>five minutes after hearing it.<\/p>\n

And yet, Nelsons convinced me that I might have missed the point of Macbeth all these years. This is the young Strauss \u2013 he was 23 at the time \u2013 experimenting with form, orchestration and especially harmony. It was composed in the years 1887-1890. At the same time Strauss was working on Till Eulenspiegel<\/em> and Don Juan<\/em>, two of his greatest masterpieces. But in Macbeth<\/em> Strauss was going in a different direction. Remember that Brahms had just written his Fourth Symphony in 1884 and was still very much alive and Wagner had just died in 1883. But here was Strauss taking chromaticism and dissonance to a higher level. Nor was this a passing phase. There are pages of Salome<\/em> (1905) and Die Frau ohne Schatten <\/em>(1919) that rival Schoenberg in their chromaticism. But unlike Schoenberg, Strauss was not interested in changing the course of music; rather, he suited the music to the subject at hand. Strauss wrote little purely abstract music. Nearly everything he composed was either an opera or a symphonic poem with a story attached. Chromaticism suited the psychological intensity of a drama like Salome<\/em> but it would have been all wrong for Der Rosenkavalier<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Strauss\u2019 Macbeth<\/em> like Shakespeare\u2019s play is essentially a psychological drama and Strauss thought he had found the right musical language to depict it. On its own terms it is an intriguing early experiment on Strauss\u2019 part even though it ultimately fails to leave a very positive impression.<\/p>\n