Frosch

[D. Bucklige]

I am new to BC, still learning how to navigate around the site. I've been listening a good bit lately to Stauss' opera. Alright, I'm obsessed with it. Three videos, four cd-sets later and I've not once lost my enthusiasm for it.

But I was unable to uncover a discussion thread here, and I'd be very interested in reading how others came to it, their thoughts on "to cut or not to cut", favorite artists, etc.

I was probably in my thirties before I heard the music for the first time. It was a revelation to come across new 'old' music.

These days, I really hate being cajoled into make lists; and, of course, with lists come prioritizations and we all know just how messy and impermanent those can be.

I don't say that Frosch is my favorite Strauss opera, but it is one of his most emotionally uplifting and appealing works............to my way of thinking.

That's the best I can do; but what about others here? Is there a silent majority of Froschites I should know about?

Your thoughts, please.

[Stlukesguild]

Strauss is easily my choice for the greatest composer of the 20th century. His operas go a long way toward assuring him his place in music history. Having said that... I must admit that I haven't begun to really fully adsorb Die Frau ohne Schatten. I have four recordings of the opera:

Solti:



Karajan:



and two by Karl Böhm:





and there are two others that I want to get:

Still one more by Böhm:



and the more recent Sinopoli recording:



I haven't listened to the Solti yet. The karajan sounds good... decided good... but there are a number of cuts that seemingly hamper the already complex narrative. My favorite... at the moment... is the second Böhm.

I know that there are a number of FroSch fans/fanatics over at the OperaLively forum. The guy who started that forum really sold me on on delving deeper into Strauss' operas (I was already a fan of Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier) and really pushed FroSch... which he felt was possibly Strauss' "masterpiece". I've yet to go that far. I'm still a Salome fanatic... but perhaps given time...