Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Op. 40 (1898) [45:40]
Edgard VARÈSE (1883-1965)
Amériques (1918/22) [25:12]
Lu Wei (violin)
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Ingo Metzmacher
rec. 9-10 September 2007, Philharmonie, Berlin
CHALLENGE CLASSICS CC72644 [71:08]
This excellent new release offers stunning, twenty four carat gold versions
of Ein Heldenleben and Amériques. Strauss and
Varèse were considered progressive composers in their day and both
works, which might seem to have emanated from completely different worlds,
are separated by only twenty-four or so years.
During the 2013/14 season I attended a number of concerts celebrating
Strauss’s 150th anniversary and was fortunate to hear Ein Heldenleben
on three occasions. This irresistible orchestral showpiece, including
love and battle scenes and requiring a massive orchestra, tells the story
of a Romantic imaginary hero. It can be interpreted as a musical portrait
of Strauss himself who was 34 when he conducted the première in
1899. A challenging score for orchestral players it is cast in six broad
sections played without a pause. Strauss left no written programme but
did give a descriptive title to each section. Ingo Metzmacher has chosen
to use Strauss’s original ending to Ein Heldenleben. This
takes out the final brass-dominated climax to allow the writing to decay
away to nothing.
The massive orchestra with the extended wind and brass sections that Strauss
requires for his imaginary hero is bonded together with unwavering assurance.
This vibrantly colourful score, crammed with incident, has the Hanover-born
Metzmacher revealing an astonishing amount of otherwise rarely perceptible
orchestral detail. Especially notable is the third section Des Helden
Gefährtin (The Hero’s Companion) a love portrait of Strauss’s
wife, Pauline de Ahna. The Berlin players achieve an elevated level
of aching, ecstatic passion so rarely achieved. Sticking in the memory
are the gloriously unified strings, the off-stage trumpets sounding like
distant hunting horns.
Time will tell if this performance proves an enduring match for the finest
versions in the catalogue. There is the 1957 Dresden Kreuzkirche account
from the Staatskapelle Dresden under Böhm on Deutsche Grammophon,
the 1974 Philharmonie Berlin account from Berliner Philharmoniker under
Karajan on EMI, the 1954 Chicago Symphony Orchestra version under Fritz
Reiner on RCA Victor Red Seal and finally the Dresden Lukaskirche 1972
recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Rudolf Kempe on EMI Classics.
Edgard Varèse, the temperamental French-born American modernist
composer is still referred to as the ‘Father of electronic music’.
He arrived in the USA in 1915 and said of his symphonic poem Amériques
“I found myself in the phase of my first impressions of New York
- not the sights but the sounds of New York … I gave the first
piece I wrote in America the title Amériques.” Written
in 1918/22 for a massive symphony orchestra of over one hundred and forty
players Varèse later revised the work in 1927. Being used here
by Ingo Metzmacher is a reconstruction of the original version prepared
by Klaus Angermann.
A specialist in twentieth and twenty-first century music maestro Metzmacher
is very much at home with Amériques and directs an exhilarating
interpretation of considerable dramatic impact that at times delivers
something close to a physical punch. In this example of Varèse’s
original and unsettling sound-world I found the concentration and commitment
of the well prepared Berlin players deeply impressive. I place this awesome
performance on a par with the award-winning 1996 Decca recording of Amériques
played by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly in
the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The performing edition of the original 1918/22
version used by maestro Chailly was completed by Prof Chou Wen-Chung.
Challenge Classics have provided the quality of sonics needed to display
these two flamboyant scores at their finest. There are some exceptional
orchestras in the German capital and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester
Berlin is certainly one of the finest.
This astute pairing is one of the most remarkable releases I’ve
heard this year.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index: Ein
Heldenleben
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