Lorin Maazel - Richard Strauss / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra [Box set]

Richard Strauss (Composer), Lorin Maazel (Artist), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Artist), Sinfonie-Orchester des Bayersichen Rundfunks (Orchestra), Bayerischen Rundfunkorchester (Orchestra), Lorin Maazel (Artist)

Product Details

• Orchestra: Sinfonie-Orchester des Bayersichen Rundfunks, Bayerischen Rundfunkorchester
• Composer: Richard Strauss
• Audio CD (May 18, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00000IYO1
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #469,334 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sinfonia Domestica - Thema I (Bewegt)

2. Sinfonia Domestica - Thema II (Sehr lebhaft)

3. Sinfonia Domestica - Thema III (Ruhig)

4. Sinfonia Domestica - Scherzo (Munter)

5. Sinfonia Domestica - Massig langsam (Wiegenlied)

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra) - Einleitung (Introduction)

2. Zarathustra - Von den Hinterweltlern (Of the People of the Unseen World)

3. Zarathustra - Von der grossen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing)

4. Zarathustra - Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of Joys and Passions)

5. Zarathustra - Das Grablied (Dirge)

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Steiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks)

2. Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) - Der Held (The Hero)

3. Heldenleben - Des Helden Widersacher (The Hero's Adversary)

4. Heldenleben - Des Helden Gefahrtin (The Hero's Companion)

5. Heldenleben - Des Helden Walstatt (The Hero's Battlefield)

See all 7 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony) - Nacht (Night)

2. Alpensinfonie - Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise)

3. Alpensinfonie - Der Anstieg (Ascent)

4. Alpensinfonie - Eintritt in den Wald (Entrance into the Forest)

5. Alpensinfonie - Wanderung neben dem Bache (Walking by the Brook)

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Richard Strauss's gift for evocative musical description was uncanny, to the point where it was joked he could set even a grocery list or a pint of beer to music. In fact, his various tone poems--the form with which he first gained fame as a composer--actually develop an orchestral vocabulary to depict topics ranging from Nietzsche's Superman to a fierce storm on the Alps and a day in the life of a nuclear family. This set gathers Lorin Maazel's interpretations from the last few years (with perhaps the greatest tone poem of the whole canon, Don Quixote, still to come in a planned future recording). Maazel--currently music director of the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, an ensemble of high-powered soloists modeled on Toscanini's famous NBC orchestra--is returning to some of these works for his third take, and his vision seems to have clarified in particular for the vistas of Ein Heldenleben and the Alpine Symphony as for the idealistic poetry of Death and Transfiguration and Don Juan.

While these accounts don't achieve the degree of narrative thrust of Kempe's indispensable versions or the astonishing ensemble opulence of Karajan's Strauss, Maazel highlights his orchestra's solo prowess at every possible moment, and textures are often given a marvelous clarity. The feeling such technical perfection imparts can be distant, as in what should be the most fevered passages of Zarathustra. But Maazel brings a loving touch to the much-dismissed Domestic Symphony as well as conviction to the early Macbeth. And the orchestra's wizardry--particularly the winds--gives much pleasure, especially in the deftly humored account here of Till Eulenspiegel. Both Zarathustra and the Sinfonia Domestica are still available as single-CD issues, as well. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, the recordings well worth it!, December 16, 1999

By	David A. Hollingsworth (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

Lorin Maazel is not a neurotic conductor (nor was Richard Strauss the composer). Strauss had a tremendous gift of imaginative invention, vividness, and portrayal of the subjects and the heroes behind his symphonic poems. There's no doubt that Strauss took the ideas of Franz Liszt (the father of symphonic poems) and developed the genre further.

Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra managed to achieve the balance in their performances and they sound as if they played the works out of admiration rather than anything else. Vividness, excitement, and commitment are all present in these recordings, especially of Eine Alpinesinfonie.

However, Strauss, though not a neurotic, was a composer of drama. Therefore, performances with drama will tend bring out more effectively the vividness, imaginative, and the descriptive ever so characteristic aspects of Strauss symphonic poems (and his operas). Maazel and the Bavarian were able to bring out those aspects of Strauss' works to some effectiveness. Their main drawback included too much emphasis on balance and not much on daringness. The climax of Death and Transfiguration, for example lacks the element of surprise Rudolf Kempe or Herbert von Karajan were able to portray. It is as if Maazel's performance with the Bavarian, though distinguished, conscientously tried to ignore the ruggedness so much a part of Strauss' tone poems (such as Ein Heldenlaben). Forget the meticulousness for a while, just tell us the story that will keep us awake and excited.

This set (or separate CDs previously issued) is recommendable. But if you're the one that needs to feel compelled and/or pumped up, go for the recordings of Herbert von Karajan or Rudolf Kempe, or even Sir George Solti (the best conductor of Strauss' operas by the way!).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kempe Vs. Maazel is closer than one would think, October 1, 2005

By	Santa Fe listener - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

There are two competing sets at mid-to-budget price of the major orchestral works of Richard Strauss, this RCA set and the much more complete one from Kempe on EMI. Although the Kempe has been a darling of critics for decades, he wasn't in truth a major interpreter of these works, just a solid, unintrusive Kapellmeister type. None of his readings, with the possible exception of Don Quixote with Paul Tortelier as collo soloist, would rank as a first choce, but none are eccentric, either. Kempe's specialty was to find delicacy and refinement in works that often come off blantantly.

With Maazel we have a very intrusive interpreter who is ocnstantly fiddling with the details of Strauss's writing and who is apt at any moment to deliver a little shock by turning a phrase unexpectedly. At first I found this intrusiveness irritating, but Maazel is quite a technician. There is no doubt that he has ideas, agree with them or not. His Bavarian forces sound to me about as virtuosic as the Dresden Staatskepelle for Kempe. Maazel's set is in much better sound than Kempe's, demonstration quality, in fact. That counts for a lot in these splashy works. If only Maazel had given his musicians free rein to go over the top in climaxes, but the orgiastic isn't his style; being in total control is.

In the end, as the owner of both sets, I find about equl rewards in them, even though critics greatly favor the Kempe, a choice that doesn't seem completely valid to me unless you happen to want all the esoterica of Strauss's output.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars boring and over rated, May 10, 2000

By	Zachary S. Jackson "P.T. , LVPO" (Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a Lorin Maazel fan. I had no idea, however, that his R. Strauss tempi and balances were so boring. I was completely let down by these recordings. the only bonus was the recording technology they chose to employ, but overall, it was a total waist of time and money.