Search - R. Strauss, Wakasugi, Tokyo Met Symphonie :: Schlagobers, Opus 70

Richard Strauss at his most sweeet!

Brett Farrell | Cape May, NJ USA | 06/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I find most of the works of Richard Strauss to be of a dark nature. Even his comedies have a touch of sadness to them. `Schalgobers' is the only exception. This post WWI ballet is simply about pastries and candies and was written entirely by Strauss himself for a Strauss festival. It is highly influenced by the music of J. Strauss II and very delightful. The music is charming and a pleasure to listen to. If you don't like the music of Richard Strauss then you might like this. If you like Strauss's regular dark and psychological fare than you might not like this. If you are a fan of good classical music all around then you will like this. The score is a good example of how prolific Richard Strauss was as a composer and despite the J. Strauss II influence it remains undeniably the work of R. Strauss.

Hiroshi Wakasugi and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra do a marvelous job with this Strauss ballet and definitely make you wonder how the work could have disappeared into obscurity. In the accompanying booklet it states that Strauss released this work in 1924 when many people could only dream of confectionary treats and candies and it was dubbed by the public as the Millionaires Ballet. While perhaps not an appropriate theme for the times the music itself is very worthy and I think should have been reprised long ago. And why haven't any Viennese orchestras rediscovered it?

Anyway this is a wonderful ballet and a wonderful CD. For any ballet fans and classical music fans I do not hesitate to recommend it. Plus it is the only recording of Schalgobers (Whippedcream) that I know of, thank goodness its good."