This weekend classical aficionados can savor Richard Strauss in its original tongue through the definitive ``Strauss orchestra,'' Dresden Staatskapelle.
The 461-year-old troupe is wrapping up its Asia tour here with two programs dedicated to the tone poems of the German master.
``The force of this orchestra is (its) very high ethical understanding of his importance in music history and the will to preserve (its) truly unique sound,'' said maestro Fabio Luisi in an email interview. He said he was curious and excited to meet the local audience in his first visit to South Korea.
A highlight of the Saturday show at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, downtown Seoul, is the revival of ``Ein Heldenleben,'' Op. 40, which will end with a gentle violin solo according to Strauss' original intentions.
The following evening, Sejong Center's pipe organ, the largest in Asia, will resound for ``Also Sprach Zarathustra,'' which many will recognize as the grand thematic score of the movie ``2001 Space Odyssey.'' Also featured is the ``Burleske'' for Piano and Orchestra with Emanuel Ax.
``I chose the program in order to show, on the one side, the stylistic history of the Staatskapelle, which actually is the `Richard Strauss Orchestra,' and on the other side, to present the major characteristics of this orchestra, which are a beautiful, smooth sound and the ability to play and understand properly the Romantic repertoire,'' said the conductor.
Born in Genoa, Italy in 1959, Luisi originally taught and played piano. Conducting local operas lead to an international career, and his engagements include general music directorship of the Semperoper Dresden (Saxonian State Opera) and principal conductorship of the Vienna Symphony.
``Both opera and concert are important to me,'' he said. ``In the opera I have to conduct a work in which the stage plays an important role ― this is complicated but very interesting. In a concert I can focus on absolute music.''
In regard to conducting style, he said he admires Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan and Rudolf Kempe ― ``conductors who can equilibrate feeling and rationality.''
He regards Kempe's Strauss recordings as being ``still the best.'' ``Kempe gave some objectivity to the pompous element in Strauss. Today the trend is towards opulence again, and I much prefer the distanced opulence of Karajan and others to the exaggerated sensuality of some of my colleagues who are not interested in the truth of the work but only in packaging it nicely,'' he said in a statement released by Sony Classical.
As for the Dresden Staatsakapelle, he strives to preserve and develop the unique characteristics of one of the world's oldest ensembles. ``The Staatskapelle always was an orchestra that has given a break to young composers. These young composers used to be called Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss,'' he said, and aims to link in to this tradition by appointing Isabel Mundry and Bernhard Lang as composers in residence.
Tickets cost from 50,000 won to 250,000 won. Call (02) 399-1114~6.
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