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Alpine Symphony Karajan ¥128 Purchase
The Alpine Symphony is the last symphonic poem by the late Romantic iconographer, Charles Strauss, and although the piece is called a symphony, it is actually a symphonic poem, composed between 1911 and 1915, dedicated to the Dresden State Orchestra, which he personally conducted.
Compared to his other symphonic poems, this work took the longest time to create. At that time, the composer had moved to a villa in the foothills of the South German Alps, surrounded by excellent scenery and surrounded by the magnificent scenery of the Alps, and perhaps it was from this that the composer was inspired to create.
"Alpine Symphony" is a typical title music, the theme revolves around a climb to the Alps and the return journey experience during the composer's student years, the process is quite ups and downs, the various scenes of mountaineering are realistically described like movies, from mountaineering to descending, from dawn to dark, in the middle and exploring, waterfall viewing, distress, plus thunderstorm storm, vivid, so that the listener can form a clear sense of picture from the music alone, so it is also known as "film music".
The song is divided into 5 parts and 22 sections: Night, Sunrise, Mountaineering, Summit, descent.
sequence:
1.Nacht (Night)
2. Sonnenaufgang (sunrise)
mountaineering:
3. Der Anstieg (mountaineering)
4. Eintritt in den Wald
5. Wanderung neben dem Bache
6.Am Wasserfall
7. Erscheinung (illusion)
8.Auf blumigen Wiesen (Flower Ranch)
9.Auf der Alm (Mountain Ranch)
10. Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (through bushes and dwarf forests, into the wrong way)
11.Auf dem Gletscher (above the glacier)
12. Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (steep rock)
13.Auf dem Gipfel (reaching the summit)
mountaintop:
14. Vision
15. Nebel steigen auf
16.Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich
17. Elegie (Lament)
18. Stille vor dem Sturm (silence before the storm)
19. Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (thunderstorms and storms)
Down:
20. Sonnenuntergang (sunset)
21. Ausklang (finale)
22.Nacht (Night)
It is well known that Richard Strauss was a "master of orchestration", so in order to express the magical predilge of the Alps, in this symphonic poem he used a huge "super orchestra", which was extremely large, and the whole performance required at least more than 100 people to participate, fully demonstrating the composer's extraordinary ability to control the big band, and he himself even said that in a specific passage, certain instruments are best multiplied, plus the musicians behind the stage. In his view, 150 people is an ideal establishment.
Through his excellent orchestral emotional color, he strives to make the audience feel as if they see a picture of music when listening to music, and follow his steps to feel the magnificent scenery of Europe's largest mountain range and his mood. At the same time, it also makes it easy for the audience to grasp the meaning of each paragraph.
For the conductor and the orchestra, this work is unimaginably difficult, so in order to perfectly control this work in addition to the superb skills and tacit understanding of the two, it is also necessary to overcome various unpredictable difficulties, it can be said that to play this work, the conductor and every musician need to be prepared to become a climber.
The Alpine Symphony is performed at its peak
Karajan & Berliner Philharmonic
This Richard Strauss: Alpine Symphony, like all recordings in The Gold Karajan, is one of the most outstanding works karajan decided to record after the maturity of digital recording technology on CD, and is also an important result of Karajan's painstaking research in his later years, and has long been the first choice for this work.
For this "conductor emperor" who is very good at using the big band to create a sense of magnificence, this work is bound to escape the palm of his hand, his conducting action is generous and free, and the tacit understanding with the Berliner Philharmonic for many years and the widely acclaimed "Karajan sound" are fully captured by this recording, and they show the grandeur and vastness of the music to the fullest, and the acoustic effect is rich and brilliant.
The calm and beautiful opening of the music, the vigor of climbing the mountain, the moving music after entering the forest gradually sounded, to the storm, the climax of the whole storm came, the momentum was magnificent, and finally returned to calm, ending in a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, which was a very outstanding and exquisite performance. In addition, the organ is especially chosen to depict the power of nature, bringing a different listening experience to music fans.
It is reported that in order to better understand the composer's Alpine, Karajan even used his own private jet to leap to the local area at dawn to really feel it. From all aspects, his determination and grasp of Richard Strauss's orchestral sound effects are fully demonstrated.
Music fan testimonials
On this album, you will experience the luster, texture, lines, texture of the movement, as well as the sense of picture and space. For example, the depth of the 11th track drum and the string substrate is outlined by the trumpet; the 13-track orchestral intersection is laid out to make people's scalps tingle, and the percussion supports a sense of three-dimensional space. An experience of linear extension of texture and melody from the construction of instruments and parts.
The arrangement of Strauss's Alpine Tracks is extremely heavy and complex. Most recordings of this symphony will sound cloudy or noisy, but the Berliner Philharmoniker led by Karajan plays so clearly and precisely, while achieving the full expression and emotion of the work, the recording quality of this one is also quite good compared to others.
Karajan is definitely at his best in this interpretation. I own almost all of his records (probably 300 discs) and this is probably his best record. In addition to this, the interpretation is coherent, the performance is flawless, and the attention to detail is second to none. If you've never heard this track, it's an amazing listening journey, and it's a disc worth having.
【Original Import】
Richard Strauss: Symphony of the Alps (Cd in German)
Karajan & Berliner Philharmonic