R. Strauss: Don Juan
Rudolf Kempe, Dresden State Orchestra
EMI
“Noli contendere,” all challengers say. Neither a muscle-bound virtuoso (Solti, Chicago) or super-ornate dandy (Karajan, Vienna or Berlin), Kempe is a dashing, quick, seductive Don, a fast worker, yet one who—like a subtle perfume—never makes his lovers feel rushed. Kempe makes this great Strauss orchestra practically dance on the head of a pin.
WebTip: Kempe’s Dresden recording has been reissued many times and sounds superb in the “Great Recordings of the Century” series.
R. Strauss: Four Last Songs
Jessye Norman, soprano; Kurt Masur, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Philips
Renée Fleming has said, “No matter how well these songs are sung, it is the overall pacing of the piece, combined with the quality of orchestral playing [read “atmosphere”] that really shapes it. If all three elements aren’t equal, the singing makes little effect.” Truer words never spoken.
No easy choice here! My favorite voice is Renee Fleming’s in her 1995 recording, but Christoph Eschenbach’s static conducting combined with RCA’s dry, flat sound palate for the Houston Symphony yields “little effect.” By the time of her 2008 Decca recording, Fleming’s voice has taken on a gorgeous alto hue, but her upbeat lyricism and Christian Thielemann’s fast pacing with the Munich Philharmonic trivialize the texts. Only Jessye Norman and Kurt Masur offer the complete package. Norman’s normally huge voice here becomes an ethereal, deeply expressive, delicate instrument supported by a rich, transparent orchestral atmosphere that makes this heavenly performance—probably the slowest on record—seem shorter than Eschenbach’s.
WebTip: To search enter: strauss four last songs norman.
Schumann: Symphony No. 3 (“Rhenish”)
John Eliot Gardiner, Revolutionary & Romantic Orchestra
Archiv (Deutsche Grammophon)
Who said that Schumann couldn’t orchestrate! Gardiner’s transparent textures show how all of the inner woodwind and brass details function, making for exceptional rhythmic alertness. By dividing the violins left and right, he gives the violas and cellos their own space as well. Tempos inter-relate perfectly. But then Leonard Bernstein, the first to use Schumann’s original instrumentation, had all that back in 1960 with the New York Philharmonic. Gardiner has Lennie’s fizz but not his wild abandon that shows off Schumann in perhaps his last outpouring of exuberance, health, and happiness. Until Bernstein’s Sony CD again becomes available, Gardiner is the sure first choice.
WebTip: Gardiner’s recording is available only as part of a box set of three CDs with all four symphonies, plus the original version of No. 4 and two other orchestral works, of which I can recommend only about half of the performances. It’s also expensive—even used box sets currently cost almost $40. But have patience: 2010 is the bicentennial of Schumann’s birth, which means more new recordings and re-releases. Perhaps ArkivMusic.com will resurrect Bernstein’s 1960 New York Philharmonic recordings, if Sony Classical does not (not to be confused with Bernstein’s 1985 Vienna Philharmonic recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, by which time his fizz had evaporated). Or maybe hbdirect.com has the New York Phil recording buried in its inventory.
