{"id":31682,"date":"2023-08-04T14:54:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T12:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=187087"},"modified":"2023-08-04T15:40:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T13:40:04","slug":"a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to Strauss\u2019s Symphonia Domestica and its best recordings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking inspiration from his everyday married life, Strauss composed a landmark in symphonic music; Terry Blain finds the best recordings of Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica; <\/p>

By Terry Blain\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 04 August 2023 at 12:54 PM<\/p>

\n\n

It is quite clear, then, that he has thought it worthwhile to put about 100 people to a great deal of trouble and expense in order to suggest the imbecile spectacle of a baby shrieking in its bath.\u2019 So wrote the English music critic Ernest Newman in 1905 after the English premiere of Richard Strauss<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Symphonia Domestica<\/i>, an orchestral tone poem lasting 45 minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Newman pulled no punches in his estimation of Strauss\u2019s newest piece. \u2018Sheer inanity,\u2019 he called it. \u2018There is something physically wrong with a brain that can fall so low as this.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Symphonia Domestica<\/em> about?<\/h2>\n\nNewman\u2019s contemptuous dismissal of the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> has been echoed by many since. Should a \u2018serious\u2019 composer really be depicting minute details of his family life \u2013 including an X-rated sex scene and an unseemly domestic squabble \u2013 in music? <\/span><\/p>\nHad he really nothing more edifying to offer than that? For Strauss, though, family was at the heart of his life as a composer. His wife Pauline, a renowned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-soprano\/\">soprano<\/a><\/strong>, had a famously combustible temperament. But the couple\u2019s relationship ran deep, and the marriage lasted over half-a-century. The arrival in 1897 of their son Franz \u2013 nicknamed \u2018Bubi\u2019 \u2013 further bolstered the sustenance Strauss drew from home and family, and the creative stability they gave him. <\/span><\/p>\nSo why not express his sense of domestic felicity in music? In 1903, Strauss set about doing just that. Four interlinking sections were planned for the new work, loosely resembling those of a symphony. Father, mother and baby are all allotted their own musical themes in the opening \u2018movement\u2019 \u2013 a cooing oboe d\u2019amore represents Bubi.<\/span><\/p>\nIn Strauss\u2019s \u2018day in my family life\u2019 we hear, in turn, ructions at baby\u2019s bathtime, a lulling cradle song, a clock chiming, an almost indecently graphic depiction of the parents\u2019 nocturnal love-making and an almighty quarrel over the Strauss breakfast table. <\/span><\/p>\nEarly drafts of the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> contain verbal descriptions, mapping out where these incidents are actually depicted in the music. \u2018Mama puts Bubi to bed\u2019, Strauss writes at one point, then \u2018Papa and mama alone: love scene\u2019, and \u2018Morning: Bubi cries, happy awakening\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\nSensing the ridicule he was inviting from those who favoured music of grand philosophical pretensions \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/richard-wagner-2\/\">Wagner<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s influence dominated Austro-Germanic music at the period, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/gustav-mahler\/\">Mahler<\/a> <\/strong>already had four symphonies to his credit \u2013 Strauss omitted these annotations from the printed score, hoping listeners would respond primarily to the music.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How was it received?<\/h3>\nWhen the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> was premiered on 21 March 1904, they did exactly that. The venue was Carnegie Hall, New York, where Strauss was guest-of-<\/span>honour at the last of four \u2018Festival Concerts\u2019 organised by Hermann Wetzler, a German-<\/span>born conductor and composer. Fifteen <\/span>rehearsals were needed to whip the Wetzler <\/span>Symphony Orchestra into shape \u2013 a \u2018band of anarchists\u2019, Strauss called them \u2013 but <\/span>they undoubtedly delivered on the evening. <\/span><\/p>\nAn \u2018extremely fine\u2019 performance, wrote the New York Times<\/i>\u2019s reviewer, \u2018in many respects brilliant\u2019. Strauss himself conducted \u2018with tremendous energy and alertness\u2019, earning \u2018many recalls\u2019 to the platform from a large, appreciative audience. <\/span><\/p>\nSo appreciative, in fact, that two repeat performances of the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> were quickly added. These took place \u2013 appropriately enough for a work extolling cosy domesticity \u2013 in the nearby Wanamaker department store in downtown Manhattan, where an entire sales floor was cleared for Strauss, his orchestra and the paying customers. <\/span><\/p>\nThe Wanamaker concerts particularly rankled with critics, many of them already spitting teeth at Strauss\u2019s low-brow choice of subject-matter. Not content with peddling intimate family relationships on a public platform, was he now literally selling his artistry out to the highest commercial bidder? Strauss was, however, having none of it. \u2018True art ennobles this hall,\u2019 he said, \u2018and a respectable fee for his wife and child is no disgrace, even for an artist.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nAnd yet doubts about the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> linger. Can worthwhile music really be made from the minutiae of family living? Is art not meant to rise above the banalities of everyday existence? Strauss\u2019s response to questions such as these was disarmingly simple. \u2018What can be more serious than family life?\u2019 he retorted. \u2018I want the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> to be understood seriously.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nAs the already successful composer of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-tone-poem\/\"> tone poems<\/a><\/strong> such as Also Sprach Zarathustra<\/i>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/what-are-the-best-recordings-of-richard-strausss-don-quixote\/\">Don Quixote<\/i><\/a><\/strong> and Ein Heldenleben<\/i>, Strauss had every right to crave his listeners\u2019 indulgence. In return he offered them, in Symphonia Domestica<\/i>, a brilliantly warm and witty celebration of the things that mattered most to him in life \u2013 not philosophical or spiritual speculations, but the happiness and meaning that he found in the intimate environment of his own family. \u2018I want to create joy,\u2019 he once commented. In the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> he did just that, <\/span>allowing audiences to share his unshakable <\/span>conviction that, as Hugo Wolf\u2019s song puts it, \u2018even small things can be delightful\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The best recordings of Strauss<\/strong>\u2019s <\/span>Symphonia Domestica<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p1\">Zubin Mehta <\/span>(conductor)<\/i><\/span><\/h3>\nLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nDecca 470 9542<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nZubin Mehta and the Symphonia Domestica <\/i>are bosom buddies: he has recorded it on no fewer than three occasions. While his re-makes with the Berlin and London Philharmonics have their moments, they pale in comparison with this remarkably fresh and vivid version with the Los\u00a0Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (with which today he is conductor emeritus). Made in 1969, when Mehta was in a golden period as the orchestra\u2019s music director, it bristles with the self-confidence and \u00e9lan he had instilled in the players since his appointment, aged just 26, seven years\u00a0earlier. <\/span><\/p>\nMehta has often been branded a brash interpreter, but there is no sign of that here. Indeed, of all the Domestica<\/i>s on record, none is more tenderly expressive. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-scherzo\/\">Scherzo<\/i><\/a><\/strong>, where the baby awakes, has ravishingly pointed woodwind detail, and the cradle song that follows is hushed and\u00a0cossetting. <\/span><\/p>\nMehta can call out the big guns when needed. The fiery fugue which launches the Finale leaves no doubt that a sharp-tongued altercation is happening between the Strausses, while the crushing, brass-capped climaxes at the work\u2019s conclusion are exhilaratingly projected. But Mehta also finds a degree of emotional nuance matched by no other conductor. No one makes the multi-stranded dream music of the sleeping hours sound quite so strange and unsettled. And even in the love music of the Adagio<\/i>, Mehta finds elements of unquietness and anxiety that are glossed over in other interpretations.<\/span><\/p>\nMuch of this extra detail would be buried were the sound quality not outstanding. Fortunately, it is. Working in Royce Hall at the University of California, Decca\u2019s engineers conjure a classic analogue recording, wonderfully ripe and rangy, with oodles of visceral impact. In the Symphonia Domestica<\/i> you need that \u2013 if you\u2019re not thrilled and seduced by the sounds of Strauss\u2019s massive orchestra, half the point of the piece is missing. Brass and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/double-bass-guide\/\">double basses<\/a><\/strong> emerge with particular potency, and no other version is so sheerly enjoyable as a hi-fi listening experience. It is currently available to be streamed or bought via download, and the digital remastering is\u00a0excellent. <\/span><\/p>\nWatching Strauss conducting the Symphonia Domestica<\/i>, an observer wrote that \u2018he laughs with the timpani\u2019, and \u2018takes pleasure with the joy he is unleashing\u2019. Mehta captures that quintessential Straussian spirit in this great recording. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-container\" data-position=\"adhoc\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-title monetizer-title\" style=\"background-color: #; color: #000000\"\/> <div id=\"monetizer__deals\" data-type=\"price-comparison\" data-config=\"{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/B003TZY0MW\/ref=sr_1_3?","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"0.7-1.3","sid":"term-classicalmusic-6-pcs-txt-pos"}\"\/> <div class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-explanatory-text body-copy-extra-small editor-content\"\/><\/div> <h3 class=\"p1\">A<\/i><\/span>ntoni Wit (conductor)<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\nNaxos 8.570895<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIf you don\u2019t like downloads or streaming, this richly enjoyable 2009 performance by the Staatskapelle Weimar is the leading option on CD. Antoni Wit\u2019s tempos are consistently broader than most, but that allows the warmth of Strauss\u2019s orchestration to radiate, with no significant loss of detail. The Weimar violins are especially impressive, phrasing with a natural pliability and feeling for the long-spun, lyrical melodies. Naxos\u2019s engineering sets the players in a concert-hall perspective, with pleasingly high levels of transparency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-container\" data-position=\"adhoc\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-title monetizer-title\" style=\"background-color: #; color: #000000\"\/> <div id=\"monetizerdeals\" data-type=\"price-comparison\" data-config=\"{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Strauss-Symphonia-Domestica-Weimar-Staatskapelle\/dp\/B002N5KEDI\/ref=sr_1_1","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"0.7-1.3","sid":"term-classicalmusic-6-pcs-txt-pos"}\"\/> <div class=\"monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text body-copy-extra-small editor-content\"\/><\/div> <iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/gb\/album\/strauss-r-symphonia-domestica-metamorphosen\/332771498\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"\/><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\">George Szell (conductor)<\/i><\/span><\/h3>\nColumbia G010003872250P<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Symphonia Domestica<\/i> is so intricately orchestrated that any weaknesses in individual sections or players are glaringly obvious. There\u2019s no danger of that in this Cleveland Orchestra recording. Made in 1964 for Strauss\u2019s centenary, it still scorches all the others in the unshakable virtuosity of its playing. Szell\u2019s tempos are on the quick side but never rushed, and the Cleveland players have an uncanny <\/span>ability to combine chamber-like delicacy <\/span>with blockbusting ensemble impact. In 24-bit, high resolution format particularly, it makes for an enthralling experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prestomusic.com\/classical\/products\/8457743--sinfonia-domestica-op-53-remastered\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Buy from Presto<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3 class=\"p2\">Rudolf Kempe (conductor)<\/i><\/span><\/h3>\nWarner Classics 9029554251<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAn outstanding Strauss conductor, Rudolf Kempe\u2019s 1972 Symphonia Domestica<\/i> sits midway between Wit\u2019s geniality and Szell\u2019s pinpoint precision. The Staatskapelle Dresden premiered many of Strauss\u2019s operas, and its players understand Kempe\u2019s <\/span>affectionate micro-rubatos instinctively. <\/span>Their bounding athleticism is never muscle-bound, and the love music is passionately delivered, though dignity and decorum are maintained in even the steamiest moments. A long, venerable tradition of Strauss interpretation is distilled in this rendition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-container\" data-position=\"adhoc\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\"monetizerprice-comparison-title monetizer-title\" style=\"background-color: #; color: #000000\"\/> <div id=\"monetizer__deals\" data-type=\"price-comparison\" data-config=\"{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/R-Strauss-Complete-Orchestral-Works\/dp\/B07LD23LTS\/ref=sr_1_1","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"14-26","sid":"term-classicalmusic-6-pcs-txt-pos"}\"\/> <div class=\"monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text body-copy-extra-small editor-content\"\/><\/div> <iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/gb\/album\/richard-strauss-complete-orchestral-works\/1456410008\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"\/><\/p>\nAnd one to avoid\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe concert from which this was taken was the last Wilhelm Furtw\u00e4ngler conducted in the old Berlin Philharmonie concert hall before Allied bombers flattened it in 1944. Through the foggy, dynamically pinched recording <\/span>(complete with audience coughing), one discerns an incandescent performance by the Berlin Philharmonic. But sonically it\u2019s a severely limited experience, which Symphonia <\/i><\/span>Domestica <\/i>should never be. <\/span><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taking inspiration from his everyday married life, Strauss composed a landmark in symphonic music; Terry Blain finds the best recordings of Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31683,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"8"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",601,591,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings-300x295.jpg",300,295,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",601,591,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",601,591,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",601,591,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/a-guide-to-strausss-symphonia-domestica-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",601,591,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Taking inspiration from his everyday married life, Strauss composed a landmark in symphonic music; Terry Blain finds the best recordings of Strauss's Symphonia Domestica;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}