Search - Richard Strauss, Gerard Schwarz, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra :: Richard Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Eine Alpensinfonie; etc.

Not first rate, but a very nice bargain on the used market

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/14/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gerard Schwarz, a superb tumpet virtuoso as a young man, morphed into a widely recorded, intelligent conducotr during his long tenure in seattle. I don't thikk his stay in Liverpool has been as productive, but this is a good two-fer combining two of Strauss's less-heaard tone poems with two concertos. As such, it's a great bargain on the used market, even though, truth to tell, the execution and conducting aren't competitive with the best.



The Symphonia Domestica tells us what we are in for: an excellent recording with plenty of inner detail, straightforward conducting that's zesty and involved, and an orchestra doing its best to sound a size biger than it actually is. Because of its prolixity, this work takes a genius to make it soar form beginning to end (Furtwangler and Karajan both turned in classic versions), and Schwarz is wise to play the music for lightness and charm.



The other big bow-wow piece is the Alpine Sym., which has enjoyed two stellar bargain recordings under Wit (Naxos) and Zinman (Naxos), so this version from Avie isn't com;petitive economically. Avie does the best job with sound, however, in a work that was intended to be a blockbuster. Schwarz's conducting is energetic and assured, but so are the other two. He's as all-out exciting as Zinman in the storm (even if we can't quite make out the organ on its own), but not as emotionally convincing or atmospheric as Wit. Let's clal it a three-way draw.



The two fillers consist of Strauss's best concerto work, the Oboe Concerto inspired by John De Lancie, the Philadelphia Orchestra's first oboist. As a GI after the war he showed up at Strauss's doorstep, and the resulting work is lovely, if a bit noodling -- Strauss's wind writing became that way at the end. Jonathan Small makes an excellent case for the work. The Duett-Concertino is in the same style but ligter -- the whipped cream on the coffee -- and receives a nice reading, again in excellent sound.



All told, I might pass this two-fer by if I were seeking the best recordings of these works, but at around $10 on the used market, it's a real find."