Music / klassiske symfonier

Ein Heldenleben


Reviews (37)


MusicWeb international

2021 July

By

By

Michael Cookson

2021 July

"The main work on this release is the tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), one of the most admired works in the entire symphonic repertoire. The filler is a less well known Burleske for piano and orchestra ... My benchmark among the established recordings of Ein Heldenleben is Kempe's account. For those requiring a more recent recording, this captivating new release of Antonio Pappano conducting the Santa Cecilia Orchestra should certainly fit the bill. Bertrand Chamayou's fine performance of the Burleske is a bonus".


MusicWeb international

2021 May

By

By

Simon Thompson (musikanmelder)

2021 May

"Anyone worried that an Italian orchestra can't convince in Strauss can put their worries aside. This is a disc of a major Strauss tone poem that sounds admittedly rather different to those coming from north of the Alps, but it's valid and satisfying ... That finely contrasted drama is also apparent in the Burleske, Strauss's anti-concerto. As soloist, Bertrand Chamayou has all the rakish wit the part requires, with a hint of danger when needed".


Presto classical

d. 1. June 2021

By

By

Katherine Cooper

d. 1. June 2021

"Editor's choice - May 2021: The composer-hero emerges as unusually grounded (though crucially never earth-bound) from the very first phrases of this loveable, refreshingly unbombastic Heldenleben, thanks to Pappano's spacious tempi and the broad, generous sweep of the Santa Cecilia strings; there's a thrilling edge to the brass in the battle-scene, and leader Roberto Gonzales-Monjas is ideally capricious and beguiling in his depiction of Strauss's wife Pauline. And Chamayou's deft, exuberant pianism in the early Burleske is a joy".


MusicWeb international

2014 October

By

By

Michael Cookson

2014 October

"This excellent new release offers stunning, twenty four carat gold versions of Ein Heldenleben and Amériques ... 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".


Politiken

d. 7. Nov. 2011

By

By

Thomas Michelsen

d. 7. Nov. 2011

"Vi er oppe i nærheden af niveauet hos den lige nu førende Straussdirigent, tyske Christian Thielemann, og når man kobler de tre kvarters orkestertriumf med en sopran så suveræn som Dorothea Röschmann i Strauss' elskede ' Vier letzte Lieder', bliver også Politikens fem hjerter svulmende".


Politiken

d. 4. Apr. 2006

By

By

Thomas Michelsen

d. 4. Apr. 2006

"Med 47 og et halvt minuts spilletid tager Simon Rattle et lyrisk, sine steder nærmest svømmende overdådigt blik på kamppladsen ... Det er ikke, fordi det lyder dårligt. Men sammenlign med en Strauss-ekspert som Christian Thielemann og hør, hvad Rattle immervæk mangler af svirp og skarphed".


Berlingske tidende

d. 14. Mar. 2006

By

By

Søren H. Schauser

d. 14. Mar. 2006

"Der er noget uforarbejdet over den ... Så alt i alt en mindre nødvendig plade".


Kristeligt dagblad

d. 21. Oct. 2019

By

By

Peter Dürrfeld

d. 21. Oct. 2019

"I 1899 kunne Richard Strauss i Frankfurt uropføre sin egen symfoniske digtning 'Ein Heldenleben' ... I en ny indspilning med The Royal Scottish National Orchestra med dets danske chefdirigent Thomas Søndergård (...) kan man høre 'Ein Heldenleben' foldet ud i al sin pragt ... Det er en helt igennem solid fremførelse, hvor man ikke mindst i det tredje stykke med titlen 'Des Helden Gefährtin' (Heltens livsledsagerske - vi kan godt sætte navn på hende: Pauline Strauss) kan glæde sig over det smukke violinspil, orkestrets koncertmester Maya Iwabuchi præsterer ... Der er blevet plads til en fyldig bonus i form af orkestersuiten fra 'Rosenkavaleren', den største operasucces i Stauss' lange karriere. Den bliver spillet med den 'schwung', der nu engang hører sig til".


Politiken

d. 18. June 2019

By

By

Thomas Michelsen

d. 18. June 2019

"Tit hører man begyndelsen spillet med stort schwung og - i hvert fald på nogle ældre indspilninger - hamrende sjusket. Men ikke her. Den danske dirigent Thomas Søndergård dirigerer tørt og præcist, men med et resultat, der alligevel har godt med energi ... Der er soliditet i Søndergårds og hans skotske orkesters kompakte fortolkning ... Søndergård kobler 'Ein Heldenleben' med Strauss' bittersøde suite fra operaen 'Rosenkavaleren'. Dén musik byder på sart skønhed og storladen vemod".


Jyllands-posten

d. 18. Sep. 2000

By

d. 18. Sep. 2000


Jyllands-posten

d. 21. Feb. 2006

By

By

John Christiansen

d. 21. Feb. 2006


Jyllands-posten

d. 21. Feb. 2006

By

By

John Christiansen

d. 21. Feb. 2006

"To af Berlins dirigentstjerner ... har indspillet Ein Heldenleben. Det er to væsensforskellige gengivelser, Thielemanns mere æstetisk forfinet og Rattles mere direkte fortællende ... Hans evne til at lade musikken fortælle historier kommer specielt frem i Strauss' suite til Molieres "Den adelsgale borger" med præcise pointer".


BBC music magazine

2007 November

By

By

David Nice

2007 November

"Luisi has gone for the original quiet curtain, shorn of what Strauss wryly called the brassy "state funeral" we usually hear and boasting a lullaby-like harmonic simplicity poetically rendered by this violin and horn duet".


Fono Forum

2021 August

By

By

Christoph Vratz

2021 August

"Antonio Pappano ist ein Mann, der mit Oper bestens vertraut ist. Ist es abwegig, ihm zu unterstellen, dass er diese Erfahrungen überträgt, wenn er nun Richard Strauss dirigiert, ohne Sänger? Jedenfalls erweckt er diese Eindruck ... Der Klang des römischen Orchesters ist nie glamourös, auch nicht fettig, sondern durchweg transparent ... Hier und dort mangelt es allerdings an aufbrausendem Schwung, an von Strauss gewollter Schroffheit ... "Burleske" ... Chamayou überzeugt mit glasklaren, funkelnden läufen und mit einer manchmal gelösten Spiellust, die zum Vortrag des Orchesters passt".


BBC music magazine

2021 August

By

By

David Nice

2021 August

"Authoritative from the first bar's fleshy bass, Antonio Pappano's bel canto approach to Strauss's mock-epic hero cultivates beauty of sound even in usually bombastically noisy stretches such as the central battle. There is gravitas in the breadth of this performance, yet it also has operatic exuberance in spades".


BBC music magazine

2006 May

By

By

David Nice

2006 May

"Rattle's hero is ... masterful rather than spontaneous in lovemaking, more self-satisfied than ebullient in victory over his adversaries".


Fono Forum

2006 April

By

By

Wolfgang Schreiber

2006 April

"Das Heldenleben von 1897/98 so vervührerisch klug und aufwühlend musikalisch wie nur wenige andere Orchester spielen ... Dennoch wirkt Rattles Einspielung in keinem Moment behäbig, sondern in den motivischen Verstrebungen elastisch und gespannt ... Souverän empfindsam disponieren Rattle und die Berliner die Übergänge".


Opus

2013, nr. 50

By

By

Thomas Roth

2013, nr. 50

"Här har vi en dirigent som går från klarhet till klarhet. Jag är en gång oerhört imponerad Roths förmåga att blåsa nytt liv i gamla käpphästar ... Orkestern följer sin dirigent galant och det här är samförstand och samspel av högsta klass".


BBC music magazine

2013 October

By

By

David Nice

2013 October

"The combination of his muscly, forward-moving approach, with not an ounce of fat on it, and perhaps most stunning engineering accorded to the master orchestrator yet, mean that both the mock-epic composer hero of Ein Heldenleben and the dying man of Tod und Verklärung make their momentous journeys without sag or stress ... These performances pulse with ideal life".


BBC music magazine

2010 March

By

By

David Nice

2010 March

"The music-minus-two-or-three-voices of the Rosenkavalier Suite has never worked better to my ears ... this is a spectacular display of discipline and power that is touched by warmth, and the live recording beautifully captures Nelson's orchestral balances".


Diapason

2019 mai

By

By

Rémy Louis

2019 mai


Klassisk

2019, nr. 54

By

By

Jeppe Rönnow

2019, nr. 54

"Orkestret og luften er så fuld af lidenskab, at det er umuligt ikke at blive berørt ... Men passionen udebliver desværre i den lidt for hurtige spillestil, som ikke dvæler nok i de lange fraseringer - og sanseligheden er ikke tilstede. Thomas Søndergård har gjort et flot arbejde i det britiske, både for orkestre i Wales, England og nu i Skotland ... Lad os håbe, der kommer mere patos til skotterne de næste år frem".


High fidelity

1999 7

By

1999 7


High fidelity (Kbh.)

Årg. 37, nr. 1 (2004)

By

Årg. 37, nr. 1 (2004)


Berlingske tidende

d. 6. Sep. 2003

By

d. 6. Sep. 2003


The gramophone

2007 December

By

By

Edward Greenfield

2007 December

"A brilliant recording matches the luminous playing in this Strauss coupling".


The gramophone

2021 June

By

By

Tim Ashley

2021 June

"Editor's choice: The two performances on this often remarkable album ... has been worth the wait. His [Pappano] Heldenleben is one of the finest I've heard in some time, a beautifully controlled interpretation that is often quite extraordinarily moving ... His Santa Cecilia Orchestra has become a force to be reckoned with under his directorship, and the playing throughout is wonderful in its focus and clarity ... The Burleske, with Bertrand Chamayou the excellent soloist, is also special. Chamayou plays it with devil-may-care virtuosity and bags of charm ... The orchestral playing has wonderful panache ... It's an excellent disc, highly recommended".


International record review

2015 February

By

By

Richard Whitehouse

2015 February

"In Ein Heldenleben (1898), Metzmacher stresses the symphonic quality of what can easily seem an exercise in self-aggrandisement. The performance does take a while to get going ... The almost complete disappearance, destruction or even non-existence of Edgard Varèse's formative works makes it impossible to judge how indebted he might have been to Strauss ... An account where Metzmacher emphasizes the translucency of texture in the opening stages, as also the cumulative aggression of what follows".


The gramophone

2014 December

By

By

Rob Cowan (f. 1948)

2014 December

"First, Ein Heldenleben, remarkable primarily for the forward momentum of Ingo Metzmacher's performance, the overall excellence of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester's playing and the sympathetic violin characterisation of Wei Lu ... A fascinating and exciting CD".


BBC music magazine

2011 September

By

By

David Nice

2011 September

"I can sense Nézet-Séguin working masterfully towards some big climaxes, but the orchestral sound isn't intense enough to support the slower burns".


International record review

2011 September

By

By

Colin Anderson

2011 September

"Nézet-Séguin and his Rotterdammers certainly bring many thrills and beauties to this much-played piece ... Dorothea Röschmann is simply wonderful, soaring and expressive, blessed with a beautiful tone and painting the words with meaning".


The gramophone

2006 May

By

By

Edward Greenfield

2006 May

"Vurdering: Record of the month" - "Ein Heldenleben was always a favourite party-piece of Herbert von Karajan, so the challenge to his successor, Simon Rattle, is all the more formidable. It says much for Rattle's achievement in Berlin that the result in this live recording offers the keenest rivalry for either of the outstanding versions I list".


The gramophone

2013 Awards

By

By

Rob Cowan (f. 1948)

2013 Awards

"Vurdering: Gramophone choice" - "What I particularly like about this performance is its musical honesty ... Roth draws extremely fine playing from his orchestra".


International record review

2013 September

By

By

Colin Anderson

2013 September

"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "Leading the orchestra ... Roth obtains a magnificent response - considered and vital - finely prepared yet with an attractive spontaneity ... This marvellous work has rarely sounded as potent as here or as pertinently illuminated".


International record review

2010 March

By

By

Richard Whitehouse

2010 March

"Among latter-day accounts, Nelsons is more attuned to the work's purposefully ambiguous demeanour than Simon Rattle".


The gramophone

2019 August

By

By

Hugo Shirley

2019 August

"Thomas Søndergård is kicking off a Strauss series with his new band, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra ... There's focus and tautness to the Dane's approach; and, though there's no shortage of incisiveness and character to the wind, his brass can seem well-behaved. The result is a Heldenleben that is more in its element in the intimate passages: 'The Hero's Works of Peace' is especially fine ... Similar virtues are in evidence in the Rosenkavalier Suite".



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