Richard Strauss may not be known for his sense of humor -- this is the man, remember, who said on his deathbed that dying was just like he had composed it in Death and Transfiguration (although, come to think of it, maybe he was being funny). This CD, in any event, contains only three works, and one of them, while on the light side, isn't really specifically humorous. No matter -- this is a delightful offbeat item for the
Strauss lover. One of the highlights is the booklet, with its two separate caricatures of
Strauss, both of them hilarious. The booklet, in German and rather awkward English (quick, define the word "fiacre"), contains a detailed analysis of Till Eulenspiegel's lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) that draws on
Strauss correspondence to illuminate the very subtle kinds of humor the work contains and to explain its one-of-a-kind, nervous but never-quite-nasty edge. This analysis would require several trips to a major library to duplicate for oneself, and it's backed up by an enthusiastic performance of the work by Sweden's
Gothenburg Symphony under
Friedrich Haider. (DJ warning: the 14-minute work is inexplicably divided into 26 tracks on the CD.) The work is rounded out by the waltzes from the opera Der Rosenkavalier, which certainly qualify as humorous, and by
Strauss' short suite from the little-known ballet Schlagobers (Whipped Cream), a sort of bizarre take-off on The Nutcracker in which a young man imagines dances involving the sweets in a confectionery shop -- sweet in a decadent Viennese way rather than humorous. No one else has put these three works together on the same CD, and one can be grateful to have a whole CD of light instrumental music from a composer who rarely makes one smile. If you're looking for a gift for someone who likes
Strauss, this release from the small Austrian Nightingale label should be obscure enough to fill the bill.