Richard Strauss Recordings


  Strauss is one of a very few Composers who had equal success in both Opera and Symphonic realm.  For the purpose of this discussion I am confining my discussion to non Opera, so essentially: Zarathustra, Till, Don Juan, Heldenleben, Eine Alpinesymphony, Death and Transfiguration, Rosenkavalier and Capriccio extracts, Metamophasen, the early works (Macbeth, Aus Italian) and the one that I really dislike—Symphonica Domestica.

  Sine these are such great Orchestral showcases they have oft been recorded and many as large collections.

  I’ve been listening through the Kempe set with the Dresden Staatkapelle recently (the latest reissue on Warner) from the early seventies and primarily comparing it with two sets -the Reiner/Chicago set, dating from the dawn of the stereo era (Zarathustra recorded-in stereo-in to 1954!) from it’s last Sony reissue, and the Karajan/Berlin Phil set from the early digital era.

  The first observation here, this being an Audiophile Site, is the incredible quality of the first two sets.  At no point, even with the Reiner recordings made before I was born, did I feel that I was listening to anything less than superb reproduction.  It’s amazing how much digital replay has advanced, and how much information is in these old tapes.  By contrast, the worse recording was the Karajan, as DG hadn’t figured out the new technology, and Von K. no doubt had a hand in twiddling the knobs at the mix. It’s over bright and pace any DG recording of the last third of the last century, lacking in bass and presence.

  The Reiner and Kempe are superb collections.  It’s a pity that Reiner never recorded the Alpine Symphony, and occasionally with Kempe one gets the feeling of being hemmed in by the bar lines, but those are relatively rare instances and the DSK of that vintage probably still had players who had been conducted by the Composer, who favored that Orchestra in his later years.

  I have several other later Strauss recordings but probably it will be just Kempe and Reiner for me going forward

mahler123

Ah! a very creative mind...It remind me of his "penguin in bondage song" when i listened to it when i was 20 years old i think without appreciating it because i was immature compared to my initiating friend... this event haunted me till this day... And this initiating friend is alive and always a friend.. Thanks

Courtesy of one Frank Zappa.......

Thanks for your observations as well, I agree with most of what you say. It also  reminded me of a book written by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen about Stravinsky. He explains why he believes that in Stravinsky, the most important note is always the ’wrong’ note. This was Stravinsky’s way of escaping the straight jacket of the diatonic rulebook. Thelonious Monk of course did the same in jazz and there are many other examples, including Zappa.

Come to think of it this device goes back at least as far as Bach. How about that one ’wrong’ chord in the closing chorale of the St. Matthew Passion? It is as if the weight of the whole drama crushes in on that single chord. Something similar happens in the closing bars of Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles. The emotional impact of such notes or chords is devastating and worlds apart from the kind of sonic effects Strauss used in his tone poems. I can’t think of a better way to illustrate the ’problem’ that I have with much of his music. I’m afraid Klemperer was right.....