Search - Kent Nagano Conducts Classical Masterpieces 6: Richard Strauss - An Alpine Symphony Op. 64 on DVD

Irritating Camera Work

John David Philip | 12/12/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The performance is not bad. The constant second long takes, the endless fascination with the tip of the violin bow, and the swirling round and round in the lights of the Philharmonie in Berlin are a pain to endure. Only towards the sublime finale of this great work does the camera settle down and allow you to experience the music. My copy is off to the second hand store."

I too do not like the camera work.

Edward C. Tarte | Kingwood, TX USA | 05/29/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I agree--the camera jumping from one shot to another in a second or even less makes me nervous. Regretfully I cannot recommend this DVD nor the others in this series."

A Prayer to Nature

Mr John Haueisen | WORTHINGTON, OHIO United States | 01/17/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, this DVD does contain a complete, uninterrupted, excellently-filmed and recorded, and excellently-conducted performance of Richard Strauss' An Alpine Symphony. But it offers much more than just that. After watching it, AND the documentary where Kent Nagano explains his thoughts about Strauss and this work, I was quite moved. I felt as if I were a small grandchild, alone in a room with Grandpa Strauss, and I said to him: "Grandpa, I see what you mean; what your life and music have meant." That's how the Alpine Symphony sums up the many skills and the life of Richard Strauss.

Glenn Gould called Strauss a 20th century Mozart. Conductor Kent Nagano, describing Strauss' Alpine Symphony, remarks on his appreciation for the multi-layers of sophistication that give Nagano a heartfelt feeling that this is a great great masterpiece--a prayer to Nature.

The first few times we hear the Alpine Symphony, we are likely to think what a great piece of "program music" it is--that it seems the listener can hear and see the sounds and sights of Nature that we would experience on a hike and climb to the top of an Alpine mountain. But the Alpine Symphony is much more. Paintings can present the viewer with something of the essence of a subject, and show us much more than a simple photographic snapshot. Likewise, the Alpine Symphony provides us with more than a mental picture of a hike up a mountain.

For instance, in the "On the Summit" section, we get not only a "view" of the heights, but also an awareness of the feeling of triumph at reaching the top, tempered by an uneasiness at the stability we left behind on the safe flat earth. Strauss also provides us with a feeling of awe at the grandeur, power, and dangers of Nature. As Nagano remarks in the documentary section, Strauss has come as close as anyone ever has, to depicting in human sounds the "heights of triumph vs. the instability and precariousness of life."

So yes, revel in Strauss' sound picture of an Alpine mountain, but appreciate also what Strauss said in Ariadne auf Naxos, that "Music is a Sacred Art"--that this is a prayer to Nature.
"