Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony left a legacy of Richard Strauss recordings that many listeners consider the sine qua non of the catalog. From that collection, however, Till Eulenspiegel and Death and Transfiguration were conspicuously absent, works that for whatever reason Reiner instead chose to record with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1956. There’s a story that the Chicago players were furious at Reiner for that decision, and on evidence of these performances it is wholly understandable. Just two years earlier Reiner and the CSO made recordings of Also Sprach Zarathustra and Ein Heldenleben for RCA, performances of such astonishing execution and brilliance that they remain classics today (no one has even approached the achievement of Ein Heldenleben, recorded in demonstration quality sound).
The Vienna sessions were a decided step backward: the Philharmonic players were just not equipped to produce the wonderful sonority, immaculate execution, and bravura of their American counterparts–though try they did, or rather Reiner did. He conducts Death and Transfiguration with the romantic sweep and headlong rush he typically brought to his Strauss performances. But the VPO bogs it down in tentative articulation, questionable intonation, and a general stinginess of tone. (It’s really scary when the unison trumpets can’t play the first note of the “transfiguration” theme in tune!) Till Eulenspiegel exhibits pretty much the same characteristics, including a murky recorded sound, making you regret that Reiner didn’t stick with the home team on this one.
In 1960 Reiner returned to record a selection of Brahms Hungarian and Dvorak Slavonic dances in better sound and with improved orchestral execution, helped no doubt by his more relaxed tempos (and less difficult music). Again, Reiner brings his own unique touches to the scores, especially his highlighting of particular instrumental passages (i.e. the horn in Slavonic Dance Op. 46 No. 8). So this release is only halfway bad.
