Customer Reviews

Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

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Eine Alpensinfonie dates from a time and place now past when a respected composer could literally write for any orchestral forces he desired. It is scored for a huge orchestra (150 instruments, by one count--although not 150 different instrumental parts) and includes hecklephone, windmachine, thundermachine, tenor tubas, and 20(!) French horns--12 are offstage and play only in 21 measures of the piece, for less than one minute. It is a veritable bible of orchestration--Strauss is a master of handling huge forces, surpassed only by Gustav Mahler, and that arguably. But Strauss's layers of counterpoint and his textural conceptions can suffer at the hands of overenthusiastic performers or an insufficiently aware conductor. Andre Previn and the Vienna Philharmonic prove themselves more than capable, though, and this is an absolutely beautiful performance that always brings tears to my eyes. Following the score while listening to this recording demonstrates an astonishing clarity of performance in such a complex score, and if the low brass tone crests a bit on occasion it is surely Strauss's intention--otherwise he would not have written two trombones and two tubas on a pedal G (!) fortissimo. That passage cannot and should not be played delicately--trust me, I'm a trombonist. Worthier of note are the fantastic performances by the first trumpet, who Strauss treats as almost superhuman; the gorgeous horn/tenor tuba section, and the fantastically lush sound overall. The performance is not without flaws, but the problems are minor indeed and issues of interpretation--for example, at the very ending Previn does not observe Strauss's fermata, and the violins never really glissando noticeably where Strauss indicates to do so. The final interval of a twelfth (a compound fifth, from F at the top of the treble clef staff to Bb below the staff) is marked glissando; what is meant here is a slide from one note to the next, without break, and consequentially the F and the notes before it will likely be played on the G string, resulting in a dark sound very appropriate for the ending of the piece (the ending section is even titled "Night"). But the Vienna Philharmonic, or Previn, or both, see it otherwise. The glissando is inaudible to me, there is no connection between the penultimate and the final note, and the final phrase is not, I believe, played on the G string at all. Still, this is quite a subtle distinction and not one that significantly mars the overall performance of truly deep and powerful music.

Strauss has been criticized for being overly programmatic and literal, writing trivial music and being derivative of Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. Whatever truth these criticisms hold, the fact remains that Wagner, Mahler and Strauss revolutionized music. Aside from their already well-known harmonic innovations and orchestral mastery, they freed melody from its primarily vocal conception, which had limited it from its origin. Where most composers before them would follow a large leap with motion in the opposite direction, thereby restricting the melodic line in musical space, these three composed great soaring lines in which a large leap might well be followed by another leap or stepwise motion in the same direction. The resulting themes often surpass the range of a single instrument; a given melody might, for example, begin in the tuba doubled with bassoon, celli and contrabasses, move to French horns and finally end in the upper registers of flutes, oboes, and violins. Orchestration becomes not simply an assigning of instruments to particular lines, but an inseparable part of the composition of a piece. Whatever flaws Strauss's music might have (and I have to admit that the Storm Scene in the Alpine Symphony, with its wind and thunder machines and the portrayal of raindrops in the pizzicato strings is too cliched for my taste), its glories far surpass them.

It is a bit of a shame that nothing is coupled with the Alpine Symphony--at only 48 minutes this disc is a bit slim; and I think that Death and Transfiguration would have made a stunning companion piece. But perhaps Previn and Vienna have already released a version of that work, at any rate, even alone this is an excellent performance of a glorious piece and well worth owning.

I'll agree with the reviewer below that this may not be the most passionate version of the Alpine Symphony available. However, this disc is my favorite of the four Strauss discs recorded by Andre Previn on Telarc. The Symphony speaks for itself. It is a cliffhanger packed full of beautiful, energetic themes. Telarc captures the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra sound as vast as all outdoors. The glassine woodwinds and sumptuous strings descend down the mountain like the cascades of an avalanche. The near presence and dynamic range of the orchestra help promote the travelogue nature of the piece. I feel that Previn's carefully calculated reading allows the listener to absorb Strauss' stunning orchestral effects with the appropriate cold chills.

I introduced myself to Richard Strauss's work when I purchased the recordings of David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. I noticed right away that R. Strauss was a master of Late Romantic Classical Music. The composer had created some timeless melodies and complex orchestral structures. Don Juan, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), and Festliches Präludium (Festival Prelude) are prime examples of his apparent intelligence. Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony) was composed in 1915, a time when he was at the peak of his career. It is one of his most programmatic works, and requires over a hundred players. It is musically complex, and yet it's quite colorful and tremendously explosive. Although the work itself a bit of a challenge because of the number of players required, it has found itself a wide discography. Numerous conductors such as Karl Bohm and Neeme Jarvi have accepted the challenge and, as a result, have been praised for their own renditions with the orchestras that they have chosen. My personal favorite is still the Zinman recording, the first one that I've ever purchased. However, it looks like Zinman has found a worthy adversary: André Previn.

With the ever-popular Vienna Philharmonic, Previn pays as much attention as Zinman. The only difference is that Previn adds more energy into the piece. He displays more emotion as he superbly captures the imagery of the Alps: from the rivers to the glaciers to even the cow & its cowbell. The Vienna Philharmonic's performance is just dazzling. The brass are heard loud and clear, the woodwinds never lose their delicate touch, and the strings play with the right amount of power and blissful lyricism. There are some faults to Previn's recording, however. The "Obscured Sun" and "Elegy" are a bit rushed, and the soft percussion is barely heard in some moments, if not heard at all. Some of the small orchestral details that are found in Zinman's recording are lost in Previn's, mostly because of the larger "echoes" in the acoustics. In the end, when intensity is gained, musical clarity is lost.

If I had to choose between Zinman and Previn, I would go for the former. Zinman's recording is more moderately measured, and yet the clarity and the effective choice of tempos are appropriate. But even if Previn's recording of Eine Alpensinfonie is a bit flawed, it still has a lot to offer. If you want a purely energetic Alpensinfonie, then Previn is the one to buy.

Grade: 8.7 out of 10

I have enjoyed this CD overmuch since buying it a couple of years ago. My former favorite on LP with Andrew Davis never made it to CD. This is a suitable replacement and Previn and the Vienna under Telarc's recording management have created a stirring experience with the breadth and majesty this work deserves in the clarity and spatiality this CD reveals. I see the LSO label has issued an SACD of this with Haitink conducting, but after hearing his Bruckner 7th with the Chicago S.O., I'll pass and just keep right on enjoying this release. Kudos to Previn and Telarc.