This fabulous and inexpensive set of Strauss tone poems, built around Zubin Mehta’s hyper-Romantic Los Angeles recordings, should find favor with anyone who cares about this music. It’s worth remembering that Mehta, Viennese trained, took over Los Angeles with the intention (in this repertoire at least) of out-schmaltzing the Viennese, and by and large he succeeded. At the time these performances were recorded in the late ’60s and ’70s, the L.A. players and their new music director had something to prove, and given the fact that Vienna was the original source of the “Hollywood sound”, the results come off as completely idiomatic–the Vienna Phil on steroids–everything pushed to the limits of virtuosity and larger than life.
Some of these performances, An Alpine Symphony in particular, became justly famous, but Ein Heldenleben, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, and the Sinfonia Domestica still pack quite a wallop, and they sound marvelous in these new transfers. Many listeners (especially in North America) first learned such neglected items as the Alpine Symphony and the Sinfonia Domestica from these performances, and purely as sound these recordings set a new standard in Strauss. And while there have been many fine recordings of most of this music captured in the ensuing decades (and there has never been a shortage of the more popular items), there’s no denying the fact that Mehta and his orchestra had a distinct and characterful “Strauss sound”, one that’s as valid and enjoyable today as it was then.
The remaining items have also been very well chosen from Decca’s roster of fine Strauss conductors and orchestras. Lorin Maazel leads the Viennese in a scorching Don Juan and an elegant Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Dohnanyi, also in Vienna, gives stylish but unsentimental (like Strauss himself!) readings of Death and Transfiguration and Metamorphosen, the latter refreshingly transparent and unsticky. He then moves back to Cleveland for a light and lively Till Eulenspiegel. Antal Dorati offers a fine assortment of rarities, including Macbeth, the Fantasie from Die Frau ohne Schatten, and the conductor’s own very well put together concert suite from Der Rosenkavalier. Finally, Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Cleveland Orchestra come up with a fine Aus Italien, and toss in Salome’s Dance for good measure. Despite the differing venues, orchestras, and the lengthy time span involved, consistently fine sonics cap an extremely well planned set that will give hours of listening pleasure. Grab it while you can. [7/26/2003]
