# What's your favorite Strauss work on this list?



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Which is your favorite?
More than one is ok


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

It's been decades since I heard most of those (since the demise of vinyl in 1990) and a few I have never heard. I admit that I had gotten somewhat weary of the programmatic aspect of Strauss' tone poems, but I feel that I am now ready to revisit them starting Saturday MST (the cat's now out of the bag).


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Don Juan, just ahead of Metamorphosen.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Metamorphosen just ahead of Tod und Verklarung. But I love many of Strauss's tone poems.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

I want to vote for the 'Four Last Songs' but can't  

(Lisa della Casa with Wiener Phil and Bohm but there are plenty of other breat versions also!)


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

The Alpine Symphony. Big orchestra, and a full-blown, over-the-top masterpiece.


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## Cascade (Jan 11, 2014)

Voted Heldenleben, Don Juan & Zarathustra.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I voted Death and Transfiguration. Didn't know I could choose more than one until too late. I would add Till Eulenspiegel next. Then Zarathustra, then Don Juan. All these are probably only out of familiarity. I bought a slew of vinyls when I was a kid after 2001: a space odyssey came out. I didn't hear Alpine Symphony until decades later and found it a bit of a white elephant.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

"Till Eulenspiegel", "Metamorphosen" 

+ "4 Last Songs", "Burleske" & the "Piano Quartet" (incl. "Arabischer Tanz") are the Strauss works I listen to from time to time.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Four last songs.

Especially sung by Janowitz with Karajan


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## nightscape (Jun 22, 2013)

Also Sprach Zarathustra, although I hold a special place for Tod und Verklarung.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

I don't see _Tales from the Vienna Woods_ 

_Don Quixote_ and _Alpensinfonie_ for me. Why a bunch of tone poems plus _Metamorphosen_?


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## lupinix (Jan 9, 2014)

I should listen to him more =[ theres just so much great music out there


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I wanted to vote for "Japanese Festival Music."

Ok not really. Don Quixote will probably do. I think it benefits from being one of the longer tone poems, in that it gives Strauss more time to play around with the "Leitmotifs." 

Till Eulenspiegel is decent, but some of the jokes grow tiresome.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

The Alpine Symphony is one of my favorite pieces out of all music I have ever heard! Apart from that, Four Last Songs, which are not on the list.


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## Yardrax (Apr 29, 2013)

ahammel said:


> _Don Quixote_ and _Alpensinfonie_ for me. Why a bunch of tone poems plus _Metamorphosen_?


Er, because this is 'Orchestral Music' subforum, and these are the works that most fit the bill. Maybe 'Four Last Songs' would have been included if this was the Vocal Music subforum.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Yardrax said:


> Er, because this is 'Orchestral Music' subforum, and these are the works that most fit the bill.


Well, except for six concertine works, and the two symphonies, and a some assorted marches and orchestral works not listed above. But of course _Metamorphosen_ is more famous than any of those.

_Metamorphosen_ sticks out a bit in that bunch to me, though. Rather as though he had thrown in an opera.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Of the whole of Strauss' oeuvre, my favorites are probably the _Vier letzte Lieder_ followed by _Salome_. Limited to the choices offered... I'd probably go with the _Alpine Symphony_.


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I thought I had to vote for just one, so it was a tough call. I went with _Metamorphosen_.

I love all the works in the list, except for _Death and Transfiguration_, which I dislike, the _Sinfonia Domestica_, which I find merely OK, and _Macbeth_, which I have never heard.


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I understand your point. 23 solo strings is small enough that _Metamorphosen_ is borderline chamber music. I think an opera would fit much less well simply because there are vocalists. None of his concertos are included, but _Don Quixote_ is almost a cello concerto.



ahammel said:


> Well, except for six concertine works, and the two symphonies, and a some assorted marches and orchestral works not listed above. But of course _Metamorphosen_ is more famous than any of those.
> 
> _Metamorphosen_ sticks out a bit in that bunch to me, though. Rather as though he had thrown in an opera.


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## Andrei (Sep 11, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> I want to vote for the 'Four Last Songs' but can't
> 
> ... but there are plenty of other breat versions also!)


But in what key? G or B?


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

My top three (from the list of course)?-- élémentaire:


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## Funny (Nov 30, 2013)

I like most of Strauss' stuff but the only one of his works I've felt like listening to again and again is Also Sprach Zarathustra. The way it swings from depths to heights and back again in terms of pitch, tone, musical style, emotional content and everything else makes it endlessly, fascinatingly listenable.


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## Adagietto (Jun 11, 2012)

Metamorphosen is one of my favorite pieces, and one of the few Strauss pieces I have left in my collection. I have the late Karajan recording, a Kempe/Dresden and a Furtwangler.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Alpensinfonie is my choice. I love the wind machine. :lol:


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

Probably the Alpine Symphony for me. I'm a sucker for works like that!


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## Roi N (Oct 22, 2013)

Till Eulenspiegel is wonderful, and so are Also Sprach Zarathustra (wow those names are long!) and Don Juan.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ein Heldenleben has always been a favorite.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Ein Heldenleben has always been a favorite.


The cavalry horn flourishes?

The lightning crack of the canon?

The clash of steel and the crunch of bone with the full-tilt charge?

Yeah, "_Des Helden Walstatt_" all the way.

Heady stuff for me in my teens; and of course still is.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Love mountain-climbing. Alpine Symphony takes me there. Can live happily without the rest, and most of R. Strauss for that matter, but love his songs, which are not here.


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## Guest (Apr 11, 2014)

ahammel said:


> Well, except for six concertine works, and the two symphonies, and a some assorted marches and orchestral works not listed above. But of course _Metamorphosen_ is more famous than any of those.
> 
> _Metamorphosen_ sticks out a bit in that bunch to me, though. Rather as though he had thrown in an opera.


Every work listed, unlike the concertos or symphonies, fits here. Now stop being intentionally difficult


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## noraa (Apr 12, 2014)

Wow. It's so hard to choose! I love listening to his music- tone poems, operas, and chamber music. I discover something new each time. I first heard Don Juan on the radio for the first time last year and fell in love with the music. I didn't know at the time that such sounds could come out of an orchestra. 
Looking at this poll, I was a little surprised at how low Tod und Verklarüng was rated compared to the other tone poems. I find it to be one of his deepest works. Terrible and terrifying at some moments, beautiful and mysterious or grand and majestic at others. 
At the moment, my favorites are Also Sprach Zarathustra and Ein Alpensinfonie.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

Hard to pick an absolute favorite. I just heard Don Juan in concert in Springfield so I picked that. The Domestica is very underrated. I've never been big on Quixote.


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## sankalp (Apr 10, 2014)

I know a few may not agree but fo me its don juan and macbeth.


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## adrem (Jun 19, 2013)

I vote for Alpensinfonie and Don Juan.
P.S There is quite interesting rehearsal and full perfomance of Dun Juan on youtube : 



 Bohm and Vienna. Well... Bohm wasn't a "teddy-bear" type conductor, very demanding, harsh, unpleasant. But he knew exactly what he's doing.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Marschallin Blair said:


> The cavalry horn flourishes?
> 
> The lightning crack of the canon?
> 
> ...


Actually, I love the opening. There used to be a TV program that used it as its theme music and I found it catchy. I tracked it down and I've been Heldenlebening ever since! Ewig....Ewig...Ewig...


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