These performances date from the pioneer years of digital recording, a technology that EMI quickly exploited (though not as fast as some of its rivals) during the late 1970s and early ’80s. Not surprisingly, the best way to show off the clarity and extended dynamic range of the sound was to record big orchestral blockbusters, but these Strauss performances failed to make much of an impression at the time, as critics were far too absorbed with the minutiae of the engineering and overlooked the qualities of the music-making. But it’s good to be able to welcome Previn’s Vienna Philharmonic “Don” and “Till” back to the catalog. Frankly this is music the VPO couldn’t play badly if it tried, and although the orchestra has an illustrious performing tradition in these works that goes back to Strauss himself, the players are still flexible and receptive enough to allow Previn enough leeway to make out his own case in each work.
Don Juan gets a spirited and virtuosic performance, and Previn is very good indeed at allowing the seductive and pictorial episodes to unfold with an almost Ravel-like fluidity. For example, the great oboe solo is most affectingly played, though the characteristic timbre (more nasal than reedy) of the instruments used in the Vienna Philharmonic might not suit everyone. One outstanding moment comes in the recapitulation, where Previn effectively holds back the irrepressible main theme; but best of all is the epilogue, as chilly and inevitable (the death-blow is stabbed out by vicious trumpets) as you’ll ever hear it.
There’s a delightful Till Eulenspiegel to follow, again very well played, with fine solo horn and D-clarinet contributions, even if the traditional Viennese bloom on the strings is less noticeable than usual. Then comes the 1980 Ormandy/Philadelphia Zarathustra, a recording that should have been a winner sonically but simply misses the mark with ridiculously inflated climaxes and a brass section that’s in your lap if you crank up the volume to a comfortable listening level. The best part of the performance is the reflective ending, in which Zarathustra retires from the world; but the chimes of the Midnight Bell sound more like Berlioz, with very poor orchestral balances. Norman Carol, then the Philadelphia’s concertmaster, plays his complex solos beautifully, but the reading as a whole remains sonically disappointing. Although at the price, this Unesco disc might appeal to newcomers, you’d be better off with the two-disc DG Panorama set featuring credibly recorded Karajan and Böhm accounts.
