MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: Crotchet

Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 [33:56]
Don Juan, Op. 20 [17:13]
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 [14:52]
Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings [28:58]
Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24 [24:20]
Staatskapelle Dresden/Herbert Blomstedt
rec. June and August, 1987 (CD1) and February 1989 (CD2), Lukaskirche, Dresden, Germany
DAL SEGNO DSPRCD050 [51:09 + 68:10]

Experience Classicsonline

These performances are classics. The Staatskapelle Dresden and conductor Herbert Blomstedt were one of the greatest artistic forces of the 1980s. This set of Richard Strauss tone poems was recorded at the peak of their collaboration. If they are not in your collection already, Dal Segno’s reduced price and ready availability leaves you no excuse.

These recordings were originally released by the Japanese label Denon, as part of a series from Dresden which also included Ein Heldenleben and two of the Bruckner symphonies. The Bruckner Seventh which resulted from this collaboration, recorded in 1980, is legendary among collectors: one could say that it is one of the greatest performances of anything ever to be caught on tape. Naturally, then, my expectations were high for this set, which has been licensed from Denon by way of Union Square Music.

Begin with the second disc: this program, of Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Metamorphosen and Tod und Verklärung, features three of the great Strauss tone poems taken at rather more relaxed tempi than some listeners might be used to. Metamorphosen clocks in at 29 minutes, well over a minute faster than Herbert von Karajan’s classic Deutsche Grammophon reading with the Berlin Philharmonic. Although there are a few minutes early on where the music’s repetition becomes a bit too obvious, the last half of this tragic arc of melody is masterfully sculpted.

The broadly-paced Tod und Verklärung does not quite measure up to Rudolf Kempe’s achievement with the Staatskapelle Dresden a decade earlier, with its peerless combination of elegiac sorrow and dramatic tension. I particularly missed Kempe’s gripping control over the introduction and final coda; nevertheless, this Blomstedt reading remains one of the greats, with harrowing climaxes aided by great timpani and brass playing.

The other performances are even finer. Till Eulenspiegel is just about perfect, playful and mischievous, and Don Juan is given a fantastic performance too, with each successive entry of the opening motif more and more frantic than the last; great trumpets, too. The crowning achievement of this set, however, is of Also Sprach Zarathustra, which is frankly jaw-dropping, even in direct comparison to my reference versions: the 1974 Karajan/Berlin reading on DG Originals and Kempe’s 1971 performance with the Staatskapelle Dresden. I am honestly at a loss for words to describe this performance. Only a slight lack of assertiveness from the brass in the “Tanzlied” (track 8, at 7:00) made me miss Kempe for a second. Highlights include a general genius for transitions (especially from the climax of “Tanzlied” through to the hushed mood of the conclusion), glorious stereophonic brass in the Introduction, a clearly audible organ in “Von den Hinterweltern” and the wistful violin solos in the Night Wanderer’s song (track 9, at 1:41; I love the soloist’s hesitation at 1:51). The entire “Von der Wissenschaft” section is powerfully built, with a glacial pace and equally glacial sense of inevitability, from its quiet beginning up until the brass whip-crack which sets the orchestra delightfully alive. The entire second half strikes me as utterly perfect, and the orchestra really does sound, in this acoustic, like the best in the world. When it comes to Strauss tone poems, they are. No listener with a pulse could remain unaffected by music-making of this calibre.

In this Zarathustra the adjective ‘spectacular’ could easily be applied to the score, the orchestra, the life with which the players invest the music, and the Denon recording itself in equal measure. Here we have glorious playing preserved in a recording which at the time was state-of-the-art, and which, to all intents and purposes, remains so. It is hard to imagine any of the major labels today being able to replicate this set’s combination of acoustic clarity, impact and atmosphere. At the price Dal Segno is charging, and despite a typo or two on the back of the jewel case, this is a mandatory purchase.

One caveat: my review copy came with two-second gaps between each section of Zarathustra, often with ruinous consequences. Dal Segno assured me that this was a manufacturing defect, and that they had set it right as soon as they had learned about it. A replacement copy was sent free of charge. It is good to know that the art of fine customer service is still alive and well.

Brian Reinhart

Review index: Strauss tone poems

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.