With the proclaimed "dawn of world socialism" after the Russian
Revolution of 1917, Europe's bourgeoisie came variously to be
despised, derided or ultimately, in the Soviet Union at least, murdered. It
became fashionable thereafter to mock the middle class lifestyle and its
values in a manner that has persisted in some quarters to the present
day.
Matters had been very different before the outbreak of the First World
War.
Then bourgeois values and moral standards had been revered and
even monarchs such as Queen Victoria and King George V had ordered their
domestic lives in patterns that would have been immediately familiar to that
archetypal aspirant member of the Holloway middle class, Mr Pooter.
Richard Strauss's
Sinfonia Domestica pays homage to the
bourgeoisie of pre-war Wilhelmine Germany by depicting its domestic
lifestyle in music. While not ostensibly following as ambitious or grandiose
a scenario as that of
Ein Heldenleben, it nevertheless exhibits a
similarly purposeful narrative inexorability, as well as offering the
composer an opportunity to indulge his propensity for very personal
self-promotion. After all, a man who had said, of
Ein Heldenleben,
that "I don't see why I shouldn't write a symphony about
myself: I find myself quite as interesting as Napoleon or Alexander",
might well have made the - equally tongue-in-cheek? - assumption that even
his ablutions and eating habits at the breakfast table would be of peculiar
fascination to a wider public.
Sinfonia Domestica has never, however, achieved the level of
popularity enjoyed by
Ein Heldenleben with conductors, audiences or
record producers. Thus, over the years, while MusicWeb
International's own reviewers have considered no fewer than 30
different versions of
Heldenleben (
see here), only 11 of
Domestica have crossed their desks (
see here). Karajan, arguably the finest Strauss conductor in the second
half of the twentieth century, never recorded it for his primary label
Deutsche Grammophon. His biographer Richard Osborne only considers his 1973
EMI recording (7243 5 66107 2 9) worth mentioning because of an unfortunate
technical glitch (Richard Osborne,
Herbert von Karajan: a life in
music [London, 1998], p. 580)
My own preference in
Sinfonia Domestica has always been for the
1964 recording from the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell (Sony
Classical SBK 53511), a performance so remarkable for its driven energy that
one begins to suspect that Frau Strauss may have been crushing pep pills
into the family's morning muesli. Leading an orchestra that he had
trained to consistently outstanding levels of virtuosity, Szell concludes
the work in a total overall time of 41:25 as well as clocking up the fastest
speeds in each individual movement. In comparison, Clemens Krauss (1952)
comes in at 42:51 overall, David Zinman (2002) at 43:20, both Fritz Reiner
(1956) and Karajan (1973) at 43:45 and Rudolf Kempe (1972) at 43:59.
Szell's propulsive account is, however, entirely appropriate as a
depiction of the composer as an ambitious young family man, utterly
convinced of his own talent as he strives energetically to establish his
rightful place in the world.
At 45:00, this new account of
Sinfonia Domestica from Sebastian
Weigle is a little more leisurely than those competitors. It is, however, so
engrossing an interpretation and so very beautifully played and finely
recorded, that, despite my interpretative preference for Szell's
brisker approach, I ultimately found it an equally convincing way of looking
at the work. What comes across most is the strength of the control that
Weigle exercises throughout. The balance that he establishes within the
orchestra – aided by the very fine work of Oehms’ clearly expert engineering
team - is quite simply superb and he is a master of orchestral colour. So
much of the score that had quite escaped me before emerges in this recording
that I gave up noting it down and just listened, spellbound for long
stretches, to the exquisite and newly-revealed detail, compelled to listen
anew to a piece that I thought I already knew well.
Quiet, reflective passages are lovingly teased out, though certainly not
at the expense of the work’s overall architectural sweep: listen, to take
just an early example, to track 2, 3:57-5:05, to get an idea of what I mean.
The dynamics and orchestral balance are equally well judged, though, in
Sinfonia Domestica’s more lively and propulsive sections, as you
can hear in the closing pages (track 6, 9:10-end) where everything comes
through the potentially opaque orchestral textures as clear as the
proverbial bell.
The praise I have lavished on this
Sinfonia Domestica applies
equally to the accompanying recording of
Till Eulenspiegels lustige
Streiche. Other recordings sometimes seem to skate over
Till
on autopilot – the giveaway clue for me being when I realise that I’m
listening with just half an ear. Just as in the more substantial work,
Weigle and his players are so obviously and intensely focused on this quite
revelatory performance that one is forced to listen afresh. As a result,
Till emerges as a far more weighty and substantial piece than
usual.
My colleague Dan Morgan gave the most enthusiastic welcome to
Weigle's comparatively speedy and bracing account of
Ein
Heldenleben, the first volume of a continuing survey of
Strauss's orchestral works (
see here). I am pleased to report that this second
volume most definitely maintains that very high standard. If you are looking
for a refined and superbly performed version of
Sinfonia Domestica
in state-of-the-art sound, then you need not hesitate to buy this disc.
I still, however, hold a flame for that fifty years old Szell version. It
is still available very cheaply and, with its different approach, would
complement Weigle's account very well. It comes, moreover, with a
first rate Cleveland/Szell performance of
Tod und Verklärung and a
strikingly exotic – and, indeed, at times ear-popping - version of the
Dance of the seven veils from the Philadelphia Orchestra under
Eugene Ormandy, together forming a very desirable collection.
Speaking of collections, isn't it time, now that so many other
major conductors have been accorded the treatment, that we had a George
Szell collected edition in a bargain-priced jumbo box or two? That would
certainly be worth listening to – and not just for his Strauss.
Rob MaynardMasterwork Index:
Sinfonia Domestica
~~
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
