Christian Thielemann - Pfitzner · Strauss / Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Hans Pfitzner (Composer), Richard Strauss (Composer), Christian Thielemann (Conductor), Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
• Conductor: Christian Thielemann
• Composer: Hans Pfitzner, Richard Strauss
• Audio CD (May 13, 1997)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GWX
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #246,991 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Near the end of his life, the great German conductor Eugen Jochum saw off a visitor to his Munich home with the rather unexpected admonition, "Don't forget Pfitzner and Reger!" Well, Reger has had it pretty good on recordings since then, while Pfitzner has been ignored, if not forgotten, until recently. Enter Christian Thielemann, a conductor who has clearly mastered the grand manner and who possesses an undeniable affinity with the music. Leading the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, whose music director he became in 1997, he makes a welcome contribution to the Pfitzner discography in this, his debut recording for DG. Thielemann's accounts of the preludes to Acts I, II, and III of Palestrina, and of orchestral excerpts from other operas by Pfitzner and Strauss, are full of conviction and refreshingly old-fashioned in their lyric intensity and sweep. Especially lovely: the playing Thielemann elicits in Strauss's unabashedly Parsifalian prelude to Guntram, a work that failed at its premiere, but of which the composer was so fond he quoted some of its music in Ein Heldenleben. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasury of Late Romanticism, August 9, 2001

By A Customer

All of the works on this CD beautifully evoke a lost world of idealism, heroism, chivalry, and courtly love. This disc has been a constant companion for nearly five years now. I have given at least five copies as gifts. I bought it because I am a Richard Strauss fanatic, and recordings of the orchestral passages of his first two operas, GUNTRAM and FEUERSNOT, are very rare. Thielemann's performances of the Strauss selections are superb. But I seldom listen to them, because this CD was my introduction to the works of Hans Pfitzner and I find myself simply listening to the Pfitzner selections over and over again. The CD begins with the Preludes to the three acts of his operatic masterpiece PALESTRINA. They are obviously indebted to Wagner's PARSIFAL. These works ache with desire, not for the sensuous, but for the noble, the etherial, the transcendent. The Prelude to the second act is particularly riveting and sublime. The other two pieces--the love theme from the opera DAS HERZ and the overture to DAS KAETCHEN VON HEILBRONN--evoke more sensuous but no less noble longings. The performances and recording are magnificent in every way. Every romantic will fall in love with this CD.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent Performances of Pfitzner's and Strauss' music, September 6, 2001

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Along with his recent recording of Wagner's music with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this recording of Pfitzner's and Strauss' scores may be Thielemann's finest to date. Most noteworthy is the ebullient warm performance of Pfitzner's Palestrina from the Deutsche Oper orchestra, but I also enjoyed hearing two of Richard Strauss' lesser known works. I wholeheartedly recommend this CD as a splendid introduction to Pfitzner's music.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A schoolmaster's idea of romance, January 1, 2006

By	Santa Fe listener - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Thielemann captures Pfitzner's characteristic warm-bath style very well, but this is still romanticism as seen by a schoolmaster. All three preludes to Palestrina are dreamily diffuse, as if the idea of writing Parsifal came to mind and that was enough. The long overture Katchen von Heilbronn is also weak tea, although it manages to work up a mdicum of discreet passion. If you find Busoni, Schmidt, and Reger too hot-blooded, I guess Pfitzner is your man.

The second half of the CD is devoted to out-of-the-way excerpts from Strauss operas. As with the Pfitzner selections, the attraction here comes mostly from Thielemann's way with his orcehstra--he makes the Deutsche Oper ensemble sound glowing and relaxed. Personally, I like a lot more bite, but Strauss was floating along in the Prelude to his early opera Guntram, and the prelude to Capriccio is hardly bracing, either. The Love Scene from Feuerssnot is like to be the only music most of us will ever hear form that work, and it actually ends on a forte--how shocking.

This whole 75 min. CD is devoid of spine, but that's the nature of a certain strain of last-minute German romanticism. All in all, this is the perfect recording to listen to while eating marzipan or if you need a birthday present for some jellyfish.