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From the Liner Notes :
One day Romain Rolland shared a curious observation with Richard Strauss: «I am surprised and amused that you have some musical phrases that are somewhat closely connected to your personality. They are as inseparable from you as the expression on your face, your forehead and your eyes. It seems that some phrases convey your entire essence. I have never noticed it to this extent in other composers.» It is interesting that Rolland connected the «musical phrases» of Strauss not with the thoughts or feelings of the author, but only with the appearance, facial expressions or features – of course, these are the individual and inalienable, but for musical associations they would seem the least suitable. It is, without doubt, a half-joking remark but nevertheless catches something truthful and essential. If we look at the twists and turns of Strauss» journey we can be convinced that the analogy could hardly be otherwise. His creative life was extremely prolonged. Eighty of the eighty five years he was alive, he was composing music. He wrote eight tone poems, fifteen operas, more than one hundred and fifty songs and many other works. In addition to this, one of the most astonishing features of his music is its stylistic diversity. The change of style in the works, which were written one after the other, sometimes seems so sharp and unexpected as to cause involuntary bewilderment: Where is the real Strauss? What does he take seriously? Who is he in fact? Is it really this composer who created Elektra with the most frightening scene of madness in operatic literature, the exceptionally well-balanced and successful man, the «innate humorist» as Romain Rolland remarked?
This innate humorist didn»t always make a pleasant impression on his contemporaries. Gustav Mahler found Strauss to be an arrogant and practical man, who «looked at everything with some kind of indifference». «The atmosphere which one feels around Strauss – he wrote – is too dampening. I would rather eat the bread of poor and walk in the light than be lost in the flatlands.» Stravinsky whose attitude towards Strauss was bordering on scepticism said: «Perhaps Strauss can charm and delight, but he cannot move. That may be because he had no commitment; he didn»t give a damn... But I have a terrible thought. What if I am sentenced to Strauss in Purgatory?» Possibly this «insensibility» to the surroundings, noticed by his contemporaries, is partly explained by the variegated style of his work and his character. The composer seemed to try on various carnival costumes: the heroic-romantic (the earlier opera Guntram, 1893; the tone poem Ein Heldenleben, 1898), the ultramodern (the operas Salome, 1905; Elektra, 1908), the naively-enchanting and elegant (Der Rosenkavalier, 1910), the ascetic, strict, «ancient» (the opera Ariadne, 1916) and others. Having tried one costume Strauss left it and put on another one. He gave the impression of a man who was playing with creativity but not living these feelings which he made up himself (possibly his music wasn»t merged with his essence, like the expression on his face, his forehead, and his eyes). However, in his work was something that belonged only to him, something that was exceptionally conceived by his artistic gift. more
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MA Recordings will soon be discontinuing the sale of Caro
Mitis, the Hybrid
SACD classical label from Russia.
All recordings produced by Caro Mitis (translated
from the Latin as "Succulent Fruit") are pure multi-channel
DSD productions, most of them recorded in the revered studios of
The Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (RTR) in Moscow.
Caro Mitis'
policy is to present state-of-art performances of classical works
by outstanding Russian & European
musicians, ensembles & orchestras. The catalog contains a number
of World Premiere Recordings, particularly of early music.
Caro Mitis fundamentals
are:
• recording and postproduction
by Polyhymnia International B.V. from Holland, the leader in the
SACD format that also works with Harmonia Mundi, Pentatone
and others.
• manufacturing of all titles as hybrid SACDs (thus allowing listeners
to play the disks on regular CD-players as well as SACD players) at SONY DADC
(Austria);
• unique designs for each disk (created by Kosta Gusalov - one of the leading
Russian graphic artists) based on the use of national historical engravings
• multi-lingual booklets and inlays with extensive illustrated information
• a long-term
recording program with a number of World Premiere Recordings every
year.
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