Richard Strauss | Sinfonia domestica: THE POWER OF THE VIENNA HORN

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Sinfonia Domestica, Op.53 (1902-1903)
Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic)
Franz Welser-Möst
Finale (sehr lebhaft)
2 bars after 141 - end
Horn section
assistant: Ronald Janezic
1st: Josef Reif
2nd: Wolfgang Lintner
3rd: Wolfgang Vladar
4th: Wolfgang Tomböck
5th: Michael Stückler
6th: Sebastian Mayr
7th: Thomas Jöbstl
8th: Lars Stransky

[@adude394]

What these players do on a Vienna horn should not even be possible. And they do it day in and day out. Just astounding.

[@gon9684]

They actually do the domestic symphony with vienna horns? With this level of quality? That's crazy

[@ThaSchwab]

They play everything with the Vienna horn, I imagine

[@Alessio216]

@@ThaSchwab Not everything actually

[@crysed7897]

All the players in all sections posses great control over what they do in their instrument... Truly masterful performance 👍🙏

[@MrMichaelvier]

absolutely brilliant..this orchestra is out of the world.....thx for posting the end of Domestica....Strauss was a true genius:-)) and those horn players are true geniuses .....

[@andrewwilliams2353]

I had the joy of hearing this played by the VPO in the Festival Hall in London back in the 1990s. Conducted by Zubin Mehta. The high Horn players used a high pitched Horn as well as the usual F one. The only performance of Sinfonia Domestica I'd heard previously was Karajan's with the Berlin Phil on record. Zube and the VPO blew Karajan off the map in every way imaginable. I'd never been ultra keen on Herbie's music making, especially in his later years and as a man he was utterly contemptible. So it gives me great satisfaction to report how wonderful Mehta and the Viennese were (and sill are )

[@jamesoliver6625]

Mehta's recording of the Sinfonia Domestica with the LA Phil in 1968 (Sony) is IMO the finest recording/performance of it ever done. A young exuberant Mehta (in the throes of his courtship of Nancy) trying to out schmaltz the VPO, with the finest performers the movie industry could attract available, and the finest recording engineers the movie industry could attract available, it is simply stunning, precise, nuanced, properly tempoed and fulfilling. (pardon my enthusiasm).

[@alexanderbraunstatter7497]

Bravo Franzl!

[@FeckHallBahn]

Absolutely awesome.

[@DAVID-et1lj]

the best Orchestra of the World

[@canonclassical]

The Best 👏

[@DAVID-et1lj]

@@canonclassical specially the horn section headed by Mr. Janezic

[@user-jk4js7jg1k]

*Berliner Philamoniker enters the chat*

[@amostviertla9820]

@@user-jk4js7jg1kthey are equal

[@georgeluft7881]

I didn't know a that a horn could go that high!! Whooooooaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!

[@andrewwilliams2353]

Richard Strauss was indubitably a gifted composer but his deliquency made him a right bastard to Horn players. Easy enough for him to write the stuff - he didn't have to try to play it though !

[@pprudencio1966]

His father was a very accomplished horn player, so he knew what the best of the best of them were capable of!

[@andrewwilliams2353]

I read somewhere that when his father saw his 1st Horn concerto he declared it unplayable !@@pprudencio1966

[@srr10]

There has never been a composer, ever, who understood the horn as well as Richard Strauss. He knew the instrument with his DNA. He never wrote an unplayable note for the horn. You have to be a very, very good player- but it is fantastic to perform.

[@rwb76]

The camera cuts away before the high E! What a shame.

[@HassoBenSoba]

In my first few weeks (as a composition student) at the Cleveland Institute of Music (Fall, '69), I spotted MYRON BLOOM standing at the main desk looking through his phone messages. I approached him and said "Mr Bloom?"; he looked up with those big, bushy eyebrows over his horn-rimmed glasses. "Yes?" and I said "I just wanted to tell you I've always loved your High 'E' in the Sinfonia Domestica (the Szell recording from 5 years earlier). He looked as if half of him wanted to say "Beat it, punk", while the other half seemed appreciative. He just said, softly "Thank you", and went back to reading his messages. Later that year (April'70) I was asked by his students to write a version of "Happy Birthday" for 4 horns, which I conducted in Bloom's studio. He seemed mildly amused. LR PS-- they should have called for a re-take of the end of this VPO "Domestica" film; it was pretty messy.

[@somebody9033]

what was messy about this performance? sounds note perfect to me.

[@hornchannel]

Why a re-take? This was a live pandemic-time Sunday morning concert as I recall.

[@StocksIn60Seconds]

Yep, the ending wasn’t pristine for sure. You’ll never hear a perfect recording of this piece. Ever. It’s just too damn hard!

[@loicrenier7619]

Cors et cordes, délicieux alliage!

[@utvpoop]

Viennese horns are closer to natural horns (basically they are with a changable F crook and pump valve system added)

[@taketoraoda7815]

0:24 Bravo Timpani !!

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

hate it

[@lkmm3211]

Wonderful! Where can I see all the footage?

[@TimothyReeves]

33.33% Wolfgang horn section FTW!

[@stefanreggel]

🎶🍀🎶

[@Abelet33]

0:28 i see the Saxophone family !!!! Strauss love you !❤️

[@richardwilliams473]

Is it true that Richard Strauss played the Vienna Horn himself?

[@soffronitsky]

No. His father was a famous horn player and pedagogue in Munich, but I think he played a German horn...

[@madaxe]

@@soffronitsky yes, a German single Bb

[@Nikuman-Sukinanoyo]

ゴージャス‼️

[@TheFNGee]

Strauss didn't like his Daddy too much. Why else would he try to Kill the horn players? :)

[@douglasyiuchinglok307]

And?

[@douglasyiuchinglok307]

How power are they?

[@josephgoldstein7784]

@@douglasyiuchinglok307 The 'power' is the sound. It (power) is used as an adjective to describe to brassy tone, and dense harmonics present particularly in the upper range of the Viennese horn. The phrases where the camera focuses on the horns shortly after 0:31 are quite famous for their staggering difficulty- the notes move so quick that, it almost sounds like a 'rip' or glissando on the concert C- F intervals. The passage then ascends to a concert A, which is among the highest notes penned for horn (tied with the Schumann Konzertstuck, and exceeded by some of Haydn's Maria Theresa Symphonies, written for the Waldstein(?) court centuries ago.) This is followed by a series of three 3rd and Octave ascending motifs, which demand the utmost brassiness and energy upon arriving at the Concert F, projecting beyond the full texture of the orchestra. Note, this comes at the end of a 38-46 minute work, a true task of endurance. It is a difficult task on a descant or triple horn, a double is pushed to it's reasonable limits, and a single F horn is faced with the problem that caused most German orchestras to turn to the Wendler and Alex 103 double horns at the turn of the century. But Vienna remains Vienna- Mitropoulos left a record of this in '57, and the characteristic sound remains. Thus the Vienna horn is very powerful- both in actuality, realized by the fantastic section of the Philharmonic, and as a historical force, standing the test of time, breathing life and excitement into music.

[@parandungidts2616]

@@josephgoldstein7784 mitroupoulos 1957???

[@Sebastian-en4wh]

More powerful than any doublehorn and doublehornplayer….

[@JeanPaul-Hol65]

@@parandungidts2616 Yes, it’s a 1957 live recording in Salzburg (CD by Orfeo).

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

Tunes on timpani is an abomination. Hate it.

[@kurtjohnson1042]

Give me a break dude! I think Strauss knew what he was doing when he wrote the piece. Timpani are one of the most powerful instruments in the orchestra.