In the main, this excellently recorded but dully conducted Don Quixote adds up to an attractive calling card for cello soloist Alexander Rudin. His portrayal of the fabled knight-errant takes Strauss’ gnarly challenges in supple stride. Likewise, the principal violin and viola soloists match the protagonist’s distinction, and so do all the orchestral soloists for that matter. Gerhard Markson’s staid podium manner, however, fails to bind the composer’s fragmented scoring and stop/start structure into a dramatic entity. Fortunately, Strauss’ early, lyrical Romance for cello and orchestra virtually plays itself, and the Irish orchestra surrounds Rudin’s eloquent playing with a shimmering halo of support. For the main work, the above mentioned reference recordings remain supreme.
