Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Rosenkavalier Suite / Don Juan

Richard Strauss (Composer), Lorin Maazel (Conductor), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Lorin Maazel
• Composer: Richard Strauss
• Audio CD (August 15, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003FXL
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,156 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Introduction

2. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Of the people of the Unseen World - Des habitants de l'arriere-monde

3. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Of the Great Longing - De la grande nostalgie

4. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Of Joys and Passions - Des joies et des passions

5. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Dirge - Hymne funebre

6. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Of Science - De la science

7. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: The Convalescent - La convalescence

8. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Dance Song - Chant de la danse

9. Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra: Night Wanderer's Song - Chanson du veilleur

10. Rosenkavalier Suite, Op. 59: Rosenkavalier Suite, Op.59

11. Don Juan, Op. 20: Don Juan, Op.20

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Negligible performance with wonderful sonics, September 30, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Rosenkavalier Suite / Don Juan (Audio CD)

This daunting cover photo with a scowling Maazel has lost its point--on earlier releases, his hands, now shown normally, used to be electric blue! That was to connote the magic he transmitted through them, a la Stokowski, I suppose. As it turns out, the sound on this RCA release is excellent in terms of detail and impact, but I don't hear any magic form the podium.

Maazel takes a faceless,, uninolving approach to Also Sprach Zarathustra, and no amount of sonic wizardry can compensate for that. I think anyone might enjoy this reading, but for real magic, turn to Blomstedt on Decca, where the amazing sonics serve a much more passionate performance.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtuoso Strauss, December 27, 2008

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Rosenkavalier Suite / Don Juan (Audio CD)

I profoundly disagree with the two preceding negative/lukewarm reviews; I don't know what they are listening to but I can only assume that there was something wrong either with the pressing or his equipment to have elicited such a condemnation of the recorded sound from the 2002 reviewer and the other judgement from the Santa Fe Listener strikes me as just plain perverse. (At least he recognises that the sonics are great, however.) It would seem that Dan L Francis and I agree, at least. This is a terrific CD; one of my favorite recorded performances: demonstration sound, a virtuoso orchestra and inspired conducting. Maazel gets everything right: he steers a prudent course between over-solemn, "Wagnerised" Strauss - a composer whose sunny, Italianate nature must always be recognised - and too ironic or flippant an attitude to this grand music. The climaxes are magisterial, even stunning, but there is still always room for the wit and warmth of this marvellous score. There is just the right degree of lilt in the waltz section of the "Tanzlied", a beautifully judged balance between tenderness, nostalgia and brilliance in the "Rosenkavalier" suite and real élan and thrust in the "Don Juan". As much as I enjoy Karajan's definitive 1973 recordings of Strauss' tone poems with the BPO, Maazel and the Bayerischen Rundfunks can give them a run for their money - especially with recorded sound of this spaciousness, depth and crystalline clarity.

(I, too, have the earlier edition of this CD featuring a cover with Maazel striking a gnomic pose with electric blue hands and it's really hokey - but I can forgive him the cheesiness when he produces a performance like this.)

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful performances with incredible sonics!, May 30, 2004

By 

Dan L. Francis (Ft. Worth, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Rosenkavalier Suite / Don Juan (Audio CD)

These Strauss masterpieces have never received better modern performances. The Bavarian Radio Symphony is first rate and Lorin Maazel seems to be supercharged as he leads them through these masterworks. These are highly recommended in the Peguin Guide and I couldn't agree more. They are very passionate and exciting performances.