An Alpine Sym. played with dignity, restraint, and tendernes
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/10/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"When LSO Live started out, their live concert recordings were in the budget category, so one couldn't cavil at short timings. Now they are selling at full price, with no filler for the Alpine Symphony. Certainly they aren't alone in that, but with an excellent budget version on Naxos under Antoni Wit, not to mention Zinman on Nuova Arte, and any number of classic mid-price alternatives, I'm not sure this new Haitink recording is competitive.
Having said that, what one looks for first is artistic merit. This is a remake for Haitink, even though his first version with the Concertgebouw dates back several decades. Strauss is among his best composers, and that first Alpine Sym. was a beauty. Its only flaw, in some eyes, was a certain restraint. Does it add dignity to the Alpine Sym. to take it more seriously, or should this gaudy orchestral showcase be played full throttle for thrills and spills? Each listener will have to answer for himself. The new Haitink is definitely one of the dignified ones; tempos are often slow, phrases lovingly lingered over. The LSO plays quite spectacularly, despite being held back by their conductor. The recorded sound from Barbican Hall is close-up and transparent (I've never understood complaints about the sound quality from LSO Live, which has always struck me as first rate). In the end, I much prefer the thrilling accounts from Karajan, Mehta (on Sony, with the Berliners), and Thielemann with Vienna.
Haitink is more like a dream about mountain-climbing than the actual adventure."
Great recording
Inspecteur Clouzot | Paris, FRANCE | 04/15/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I really like this tone poem. It is incredibly descriptive, and very entertaining. The sound is excellent, and it is nice to hear a live recording without the applause at the end. The interpretation was very much to my taste, but this is of course the most subjective element.
Also, I don't know whether it's just my disc, or if all copies have this problem, but I noticed a sound glitch in track 5 (Wanderung neben dem Bache) 35 seconds in.
Other than that, it's a wonderful recording!"