Strauss: Burleske in D Minor for Piano & Orchestra

[Lance]

Rach3's post on Trifonov's performance of Strauss's Burleske prompts this post. I have loved the Burleske since the first time I ever heard it many years ago. I could not believe how many recordings have been made of the work meaning it is not that unpopular on discs but may be in live concerts. These are the recordings I have and some of the pianist's names may surprise you:

• Argerich/C. Abbado - RCA/Sony
• R. Serkin/Ormandy - Sony
• Barenboim/Mehta - Sony
• G. Gould/Golschmann - Sony
• F. Gulda/A. Collins - British Decca
• Thibaudet/Maazel - British Decca
• M. Weber/Fricsay - DGG
• E. Ax/W. Sawallisch - RCA
• M. Meyer/Cluytens - EMI/Warner
• M. Frager/Kempe - EMI
• Grimaud/Zinman - Erato
• Janis/Reiner - RCA
• Hobson/Del Mar - Arabesque
• E. Ney/van Hoogstraten - Biddulph
• S. Richter/Georgescu - Electrecord, Brilliant, Yedang
• J. Pierce/P. Freeman - Carlton/IMP, MSR
• C. Rosenberger/G. Schwarz - Delos
• R. Serkin/Mitropoulos (live) - Guild
• Oppitz/Fiore - Hanssler
• Hamelin/Volkov - Hyperion
• Kapell/Reiner - Marston
• R. Schmid/Keilberth (live) - Melo
• Arrau/Defauw - Naxos Historical, Membran
• G. Gould/Adler (live) - Music & Arts
• S. Richter/Rozhdestvensky - Revelation, Yedang

I'm sure there's many more recordings, but now I have drawn the line on it unless they find one with Artur Rubinstein, Gilels, or some other incredible pianist. Enough is enough already!

[maestrob]

OK, Lance, you've got me beat again! Where DO you find the room???

[Lance]

Well, it's really not a matter of "beating" anybody, but this is what happens when you start collecting recorded music at 17 years of age (slowly of course then). And given my particular interest in performing artists, as a collector, I am interested in what almost every artist has to say. Some I like, some I don't, but of course, like all of us, we have our own particular favorites. For example, even knowing what a great conductor was Herbert von Karajan - and have many of his recordings (I am not interested in his mega-sets), I thought his 1960s rendition of Beethoven's "9" was one of the best I've heard and still do. The question is where do I put it all? It's become a huge problem, especially as one gets older. There is only so much space, and in the end, it is kind of ridiculous to have so much because we have to leave it all anyway. In a way, it creates a mess. I used to have people over in my studio to listen to recordings. Now, one can't even sit down here. I have had cabinets made for the furnace room, the laundry room, but am trying to keep major labels in the forefront (RCA, Columbia/Sony, DGG, Decca, EMI) while other are relegated (in numerical order) elsewhere. The best solution for me right now is to try to unload my huge LP collection, convert that enormous shelving space to double-shelves to house CDs. Given the depth of LP cabinets, one can even store CDs behind what is seen from the front though it is a little more complex to remove some to get what you want to hear on minor labels. But if we love music, as I surely do, then as you age, you are more careful about what you want to acquire. There's no way on God's earth that I could start now and hear every CD or LP recording I have. Still, there is some comfort in knowing that I have all of Rubinstein, Horowitz, Moiseiwitsch, Myra Hess, Toscanini, Furtwangler, and countless others for study or broadcast purposes. Is it a sickness? Probably is, but it is far better than sitting at a bar all day/night, or being a couch potato getting fat(ter). And if you also collect books (on music of whatever interests you have ... mine includes World War II/Holocaust as well as music, biographies, little fiction) then how many times do you read a volume? Not as much as one thinks. Reference books are quite a different matter. Now, Brian, see what you have done ... taken me off on a tangent here because I think about "your question" all the time! Anyway, this is my philosophy of life at the present time. Any comments?

OK, Lance, you've got me beat again! Where DO you find the room???

[Rach3]

These are the recordings I have and some of the pianist's names may surprise you:

Arrau is a bit of a surprise, even in 1946.

[maestrob]

Lance!

Teresa calls my CD collecting a "magnificent obsession," and in my apartment, we have shelves and bookcases everywhere. I've just asked our resident contractor super to build cabinets at my entryway. This will be my final space available for storage, so eventually I'll just have to stop! As it is, I've disposed of my cassette collection in order to make room for more CDs & DVDs, and nowadays I am extremely selective about what I purchase (see my reviews in another thread), buying only 2-3 CDs/mo.

I feel that we are living in a Golden Age of music, where we have access to 100+ years of recordings: Imagine what an interpreter of music 100 years ago would have felt like if he/she had access to recorded repertoire the way we do today! How miraculous this is!

[Lance]

Apartment-dwelling in NYC seems to be the way of life. I love NYC but now avoid if (since my daughter lives elsewhere) and my sister moved south. It's only about a 2.5 hour drive, but I dislike traffic and going to Brooklyn with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Time is now more valuable than ever. Unless you have the means to have the uppermost entire floor of a huge building in NYC, I don't know how New Yorker's manage to have large LP, CD or book collections. I have seen people in NYC put tons of stuff under their grand pianos, which is usually just an open space! (It doesn't help the sound of the piano.) The only way I might be able to live in NYC now is to have a four-floor brownstone. Few can afford that, I would think. I admire how you manage to enjoy your collections as you have them, Brian, John F, and others in the NYC area.

Lance!

Teresa calls my CD collecting a "magnificent obsession," and in my apartment, we have shelves and bookcases everywhere. I've just asked our resident contractor super to build cabinets at my entryway. This will be my final space available for storage, so eventually I'll just have to stop! As it is, I've disposed of my cassette collection in order to make room for more CDs & DVDs, and nowadays I am extremely selective about what I purchase (see my reviews in another thread), buying only 2-3 CDs/mo.

I feel that we are living in a Golden Age of music, where we have access to 100+ years of recordings: Imagine what an interpreter of music 100 years ago would have felt like if he/she had access to recorded repertoire the way we do today! How miraculous this is!

[jserraglio]

This one for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q_zSvns0QY

[Lance]

No question, Argerich is a winner!

[Rach3]

A new Onyx cd of the "Burlesque " with pianist Joseph Moog, German Radio Orchestra,Nicholas Milton, I thought well-played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK4LC-dU1bA

[maestrob]

Just listened to this. Argerich and Muti really aced the performance. Thanks!