Search - Richard [1] Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: R. Strauss: Zarathustra; Don Juan; 4 Last Songs, etc.

Karajan's Greatest Strauss hits?`

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 10/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recoupling of Strauss masterpieces is probaby Herbert von Karajan's greatest existing CD set of Richard Strauss, for whose music he was an unquestioned master. This set is headlined by Karjan's remarkable 1974 performance of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and his top of the line digital recording of "Eine Alpensinfonie" from 1981. It includes a number of popular Strauss tone poems and Karajan's elegant collaboration with Anna Tomowa-Sintow of the Four Last Songs.



The remastering on this set is somewhat uneven. "Also Sprach Zarathustra" sounds about the same here as it did on the DG Strauss Panorama two-CD set where it last appeared. The Alpine Symphony is the 21-track version from the Karajan Gold CD and is a major improvement over the earlier single track and 11 track versions DG distributed. The performance in this set sounded wonderful on my home stereo.



I paid an Amazon.com vendor about $9 for this set new, making it an outstanding bargain box of most of Karajan's best Strauss recordings. His EMI "Ein Heldenleben" is not included, of course. Still, this set is a major improvement of the DG Strauss Panorama that included Karajan's 1959 recording of "Ein Heldenleben".



With the addition of Karajan's recordings of "Don Juan", "Til Eulenspiegel" and Salome's "Dance of the Seven Veils", this now becomes the preferred collection of Strauss orchestral music by this conductor."

Good remasterings of Karajan classics

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Half of this bargain two-fer comes from the Sevenites (Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Till Eulespiegel), and the other half from the Eighties (Four Last Songs, Alpine Sym.). The significance has to do with recorded sound. The later digital recordings have sounded nasty and shrill but are now much better thanks to the current remastering. The earlier analog ones sound increidbly good, particularly the Zarathustra. Critics tend to prfer Karajan's version of the Four Last Songs with Gundula Janowitz, but that recording isn't in as good sound as this one, and Tomova-Simtov lets us hear the poetry more clearly. I am happy to own both and even happier that the early digital-era problems have been solved."

Essential Strauss

J. Rich | 09/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Karajan is a master Strauss conductor and there seems to be two "schools" if you will of Strauss fans: the Kempe school and the Karajan school. For me, I think it's hard to beat Karajan, but I enjoyed Kempe's readings quite a lot. This 2-CD set does not collect all of Karajan's Strauss recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (I'll provide links to those later).



This does contain some remarkable recordings, especially of "Eine Alpensinfonie," which is probably one of the best versions ever put to record. Another highlight for me was "Don Juan," which gets a fantastic reading. It's a shame Karajan never recorded Strauss' horn concerti or his "Oboe Concerto." I would have really enjoyed hearing how he handled those concerti.



I would highly recommend this set, but this obviously isn't all of Karajan's DG Strauss recordings, so here are the recordings that complete this set:



Strauss: Metamorphosen/Tod und Verklarung (Metamorphoses/Death and Transfiguration)

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Wagner / Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra



I love all of these recordings and no self-respecting Richard Strauss fan should be without Karajan's masterful interpretations and the energetic performances from the Berliners."