Utwory na płycie:

• Salome: Salome, Op. 54, TrV 215: Dance of the Seven Veils
• Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke: Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S110/R427, "Mephisto Waltz No. 1"
• Straussiana
• Tanzwalzer: Tanzwalzer, Op. 53
• Ein Tanzspiel: I. Sarabande
• Ein Tanzspiel: II. Menuett
• Ein Tanzspiel: III. Madrigal
• Ein Tanzspiel: IV. Gavotte
• Der Rosenkavalier: Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59, TrV 227: Waltz Sequence No. 1

Richard Strauss:
Salome, Op. 54 - Salome’s Dance (Dance of the seven veils)

Franz Liszt:
Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust, S110/2 - Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Erich Wolfgang Korngold:
Straussiana (1953) - Polka - Mazurka - Waltz

Ferruccio Busoni:
Tanz-Walzer, Op. 53 - In memory of Johann Strauss

Franz Schreker:
Ein Tanzspiel (1908, orchestrated 1920):
Sarabande (Lento, con expressione)
Menuett (Allegro scherzando)
Madrigal (Andante)
Gavotte (Allegro festivo)

Richard Strauss:
Der Rosenkavalier, op. 59 (1946) - First sequence of waltzes

German Dances

This second CD in PENTATONE’s dance music series will let you savor the vibrant famous compositions from the German speaking countries. Connected by the power of the music, inspired by fin de siecle, this CD is to glorify the influential ballet/theatre/opera music in the period between the two World Wars.

These are vigorous performances of the famous works and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is in top form. All the music is familiar, yet there is always room for the conductor Kazuki Yamada and the orchestra who approach it with verve to take listeners to remember what they liked so much about it in the first place.

Take the Mephisto Waltz as an example, Franz Liszt composed two alternatives concluding passages for the orchestral version of the waltz. The swirling end from the version for solo piano was selected for the present recording.

This period can’t escape the strong influence of the Waltz King Johann Strauss. The Viennese composer-conductor, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, was one of Strauss’ greatest admirers among the following generation. The waltz, too, continued to fascinate Korngold. His last orchestral work, Straussiana (1953), a hommage to the Waltz King, is a brilliant score in three parts, dedicated respectively to the polka, mazurka and waltz. Another ‘hommage to Strauss’ on the CD is Ferruccio Busoni’s Tanzwalzer, Op. 53. Busoni explained that the work is dedicated to the memory of Johann Strauss, of whom the composer is a true admirer. In a lighter note he added that it was directly inspired by the sounds of a waltz emerging from within a café.

The compilation is sealed with Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. The work’s predominating three-quarter time and its rhythms, together with its sensual and brilliant orchestration, merge to create a perfect musical picture of the opera’s historical setting and personages. It was then to no one’s surprise that the waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier were virtually instant hits.

One can say that the German Dances with its light, elegant and sparkling surface, combined with its melancholy and at times even demonic undertone, make up as its own genre that embodied the split of the fin de siecle as the end of the 19th century was felt to be a period of demise, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning.