1 Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Don Quixote, Op. 35* [41:44] Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knighty Characters | Variations fantastiques sur un thème chevalerresque A Introduktion: Mäßiges Zeitmaß. ( = 96.) (ritterrich und gelant) [6:07] H Variation V: Sehr langsam. ( = 50.) [4:24] “Don Quichotte verliert über der Lektüre der Ritterromane seinen “Die Waffenwache” Verstand und beschließt, selbst fahrender Ritter zu werden" “The knight’s vigil” | “Vaillée d’armes de Don Quichotte” "Don Quixote loses his sanity after reading novels about knights, and decides to become a knight-errant” | “Don Quichotte perd la raison à la lecture des romans” I Variation VI: Schnell. ( = 132.) [1:19] “Begegnung mit Dulzinea” B Theme: Mäßig. ( = 80.) [1:07] “The Meeting with Dulcinea” | “Dulcinée metamorphose par enchantement” “Don Quichotte, der Ritter von der traurigen Gestalt” “Don Quixote, knight of the sorrowful countenance” | “Le Chevalier de la Triste Figure” J Variation VII: Ein wenig ruhiger als vorher. Fatterzunge. [1:04] “Der Ritt durch die Luft” C Maggiore ( = 96.) [1:09] “The Ride through the Air” | “Chevauchée dans les airs” “Sancho Panza” K Variation VIII: Gemächlich. [1:49] D Variation I: Gemächlich. ( = 84.) [2:37] “Die unglückliche Fahrt auf dem venezianischen Nachen” “Abenteuer an den Windmühlen” “The unhappy voyage in the enchanted boat” | “Traversée sur la barque ehchantée” “Adventure at the Windmills” | “L’Aventure des moulins à vent” L Variation IX: Schnell und stürmisch. [1:14] E Variation II: Kriegerisch. ( = 116.) [1:39] “Kampf gegen vermeintliche Zauberer” “Der siegreiche Kampf gegen das Heer des großen Kaisers Alifanfaron” “Battle with the magicians” | “Combat contre de prétendus magiciens” “The victorious struggle against the army of the great emperor Alifanfaron” [actually a flock of sheep] | “Le Combat contre les moutons” M Variation X: Viel breiter. [4:05] “Zweikampf mit dem Ritter vom blanken Mond-Heimkehr des F Variation III: Mäßiges Zeitmaß. (je nach dem Grundcharakter der geschlagenen Don Quixote” verschidenen Themen reich zu modifizieren) [7:43] “Duel with the knight of the bright moon-The Defeated Don Quixote’s Journey Home” | “Gespräch zwischen Ritter und Knappen” “Combat singulier contre le Chevalier de la Blanche Lune-Don Quichotte, vaincu, “Dialogue between Knight and Squire” | “Dialogue entre le chevalier et son écuyer” s’en retourne chez lui” N G Variation IV: Etwas breiter. ( = 96.) [1:50] Finale: Sehr ruhig. [5:32] “Unglückliches Abenteuer mit einer Prozession von Büßern” “Wieder zur Besinnung gekommen” “Unhappy adventure with a procession of pilgrims” | “La Procession des pénitens” “Coming to his senses again – Death of Don Quixote” | “Mort de Don Quichotte” 2 O Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 [15:10] Truls Mørk, cello* nach alter Schelmenweise in Rondeauform für großes Orchester Ryo Sasaki, viola* Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks | Les Plaisantes Farces de Till l’Espiègle NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Gemächlich. Paavo Järvi, conductor P Der Rosenkavalier Suite [22:25] Recorded: October 14 & 15, 2015, Suntory Hall, Tokyo The Knight of the Rose: Suite | Le Chevalier à la rose: Suite d’orchestre (Live Recording at The Subscription Concerts No. 1818, Program B) Stürmisch bewegt. Total Playing Time [79:40] Recording Director & Balance Engineer: Tomoyoshi Ezaki (Octavia Records Inc.) Assistant Director: Keiji Ono (Octavia Records Inc.) Assistant Engineer: Masashi Minakawa (Octavia Records Inc.) Art Direction and Original Artwork Design: Keiji Terai Cover photo: Jun Takagi http://juntakagi.com/ A&R: Ryusuke Kozawa (Sony Music Japan International) 3 On the surface it seems easy to identify them, but it is deceptive, and when it is done well the music should sound natural with a lot of stylistic understanding. A great deal The three pieces featured on this disc all have their own stories, which is the concept of flexibility is therefore required of the orchestra, and I hope our performance has of this album. accomplished it. Don Quixote’s famous tale, described splendidly by Cervantes, is literally illustrated A crucial problem of performing Strauss’ music in general is that his scores are by Strauss in an incredibly skillful way in this tone poem, which I think is one of the so complex: there are many aspects that must work together, but at the same time it most brilliant orchestral pieces he ever wrote. I find that Strauss was most successful should sound very beautiful (as for example the exquisite harmonic progressions). in his symphonic works (perhaps not as much in the operas) when he came across a Often I find that self-indulgence and enjoyment of every little detail hampers the story that is a little bit silly and funny, and not so serious. For instance, Don Juan, Till performance and in the end the big picture is lost. So as I think it is important to Eulenspiegel, Don Quixote, and Der Rosenkavalier, all have their own stories that are maintain the overall structure, I therefore prefer slightly faster tempi. really charming and decadent, in a somewhat Viennese way, and in my opinion Strauss Paavo Järvi demonstrated his extraordinary musical and creative power in handling such subject matters. Although Don Quixote is an exquisitely crafted symphonic painting, it is actually a concertante piece for cello and orchestra, and so there are many virtuosic passages written for the central character, which is represented by the cello. Dialogue between the cellist and the orchestra is very important and I am so delighted with the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s absolutely first rate playing, including that of the principal violist Ryo Sasaki’s wonderful solo as Sancho Panza. Truls Mørk, who is unquestionably one of the top cellists in the world, is outstanding as always, and for me it is surprising that this is his first recording of the piece! As a deep musician who has been seriously thinking and exploring his own solo repertoire, Truls always makes the best choices and gets the right balance between expressing strong character and instrumental virtuosity, and brings a thrilling interpretation to the role of the protagonist Don Quixote. Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is another tone poem featuring a comical story based on folk literature. In this early work, since there was no need to look into deeper philosophical meaning, Strauss could just show off his capacity for inventive story telling and expand it fully on the orchestral canvas. And to that end Till Eulenspiegel demonstrates the perfect combination of Rondo-form structure and sheer virtuosic orchestral writing. I think that Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel are Strauss' greatest masterpieces. Der Rosenkavalier Suite is an amazing piece; when Artur Rodzinski made this arrangement he selected the happiest moments of the opera and put them into a perfectly combined unit in an ingenious manner. It is a lot of fun to conduct this music, but it is also difficult to play because paradoxically the score includes some of the most characteristically Viennese music of the opera. I have known many performances where the Viennese charm and sense of rubato are not really working successfully. Richard Strauss 4 Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi was born and studied in Tallinn until his family relocated to the United States in 1980. There he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein. Järvi was appointed Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in 2006. Today he enjoys an ongoing relationship with both orchestras in his role as Conductor Laureate. Paavo Järvi enjoys a special relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, of which he has been Artistic Director since 2004. Following his highly successful tenure as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, he is currently Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and, from season 2019/20, Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Paavo Järvi is the founder of Pärnu Music Festival, the Järvi Academy and the Estonian Festival Orchestra. He has made it a priority to support Estonian composers including Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Lepo Sumera and Eduard Tubin. He is Artistic Adviser to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, was named Estonian Public Broadcasting’s 2012 Musician of the Year and was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013 for his outstanding contribution to Estonian culture. In addition to his permanent positions, Järvi is in much demand as a guest conduc- tor, appearing regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Münchner Philhar- moniker, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concert- gebouw Orchestra and Staatskapelle Dresden. Paavo Järvi has an extensive discography and won a Grammy Award for his re- cording of cantatas by Sibelius. He was named Artist of the Year by both Gramophone and Diapason in 2015. In 2012 he was appointed Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and in 2015 was presented the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing greater attention to the Finnish compos- er’s music to French audiences. In 2012 he received the Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau, in 2010 the Echo Klassik Conductor of the Year award. Recently, he has been awarded the Rheingau Musik Preis 2019 for his longstanding work with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and the inaugural Opus Klassik Award for Symphon- ic Recording of the Year in 2018. Photo: Jun Takagi 5 have become entrenched as part of Japan’s history of classical music. The subscription concerts series, which is the core of its activities, started on 20 February 1927, and has NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo continued without interruption ever since, even during the Second World War. In recent years, the orchestra has presented approximately 120 concerts nationwide The history of the NHK Symphony Orchestra dates back to 5 October 1926 when a annually, including 54 subscription concerts which have been relayed to every corner professional orchestra called the New Symphony Orchestra was formed.