Mozart and Strauss were Ashkenazy's private passions - he felt a deep affection for them. In Mozart he devoted particular attention to the concertante pieces, in Strauss what fascinated him were the extreme polarities: simplicity versus great complexity, folksiness versus anarchic avant-garde sound effects, the contrast between programme music and abstract music. This presented Ashkenazy with a fascinating interpretative challenge both intellectual and musical. The programme of the Symphonia domestica depicts a day (including night and love) in the life of the Strauss family, painted on a broad symphonic canvas. However, Ashkenazy explored the work as music per se; for him the programme was of secondary importance, merely throwing a littleRead more light on the composer's personality. That music has meaning in its abstract configurations was obvious to him from very early on. The performance of Mozart's A major Violin Concerto K 219 reveals the full extent of the unsual strong musical chemistry between Pinchas Zukerman and Vladimir Ashkenazy: Soloist and conductor perform on the basis of a totally shared concept of the work. This is no surprise: Zukerman and Ashkenazy knew each other well, frequently playing chamber music together during the 1990s. Vladimir Ashkenazy was the chief conductor of what is now the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 1989 to 1999. This CD brings together live concert recordings made during the middle of his tenure and in his last season with the orchestra. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Violin no 5 in A major, K 219 "Turkish"by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Performer:
Pinchas Zukerman (Violin)
Conductor:
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Written: 1775 Length: 28 Minutes 39 Secs.
2.
Symphonia domestica, Op. 53by Richard Strauss Conductor:
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic Written: 1902-1903; Germany Length: 43 Minutes 14 Secs.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )
A & Z - Great Pairing!July 30, 2015By gwen t. (Culver City, CA)See All My Reviews"I got this for the Mozart because the pairing of Zukerman and Ashkenazy is always magical. I was not disappointed. I'm happy that I got this CD because it introduced me to the Strauss - I enjoyed it a lot! My only wish is that the applause tracks could be shorter or even eliminated. The ones on this CD aren't any worse than on other recordings - I just have a thing about them, I guess."Report Abuse