Posted by John on July 02, 2000 at 13:54:13:
Have any of you ever heard a recording of An Alpine Symphony by Strauss? I had never heard of it until a few days ago. I got a chance to listen to a recording of it being played by the Royal Philharmonic (?) It is scored for 20 french horns, 4 tenor tubas, 2 tubas, 6 trumpets, an organ, wind machine, thunder machine, 64 strings, 6 clarinets, contrabassoon, and I can't remember the rest. It is a really cool piece. It is about 50 minutes long without breaks, it just transitions from one setting to the next (i.e.-the forest, sunrise, pastures, on the glacier, perillous moments, etc.) If you get a chance to listen to it, if you havn't already, do so. It is very interesting. There is quite a bit of brass playing, with a lot of high trumpet stuff, and low trombone stuff. If this is old news, I am sorry, but I just thought I would bring it up because I think it is a piece that everyone should be familiar with. PS it is sometimes asked in auditions. (I think maybe 5%-10%)