This Scheherazade is languid, sensuous, and intoxicating. We can fully appreciate how the Tsar was bewitched by his new wife’s charms, if not her storytelling. Zubin Mehta’s performance is in the lush style of André Previn’s Vienna Philharmonic performance on Philips, which is the polar opposite of the stern, bold approach exemplified by Fritz Reiner on his classic RCA recording with the Chicago Symphony. Mehta’s first movement seduces rather than commands (though Sydney Harth’s violin solos beguile rather than hypnotize). Many listeners are probably used to the more aggressive style of Scheherazade interpretation, but I feel there is room for both approaches. Nevertheless, there’s nothing languid about Mehta’s finale; he pulls out all the stops for the great sea disaster near the end. The Los Angeles Philharmonic proves itself to be a powerful and colorful storyteller, and the Decca recording team captures it all vividly (though without the clarity we expect from today’s best remasterings). Capriccio espagnol finds Mehta fully immersed in the work’s psuedo-Spanish essence as he coaxes idiomatic performances out of the Israel Philharmonic’s first-chair soloists. The sound here is noticeably drier and flatter than on the L.A. recording.
