Let's get it straight from the start -- this set of the orchestral works of Richard Strauss recorded in the early '70s for German EMI with Rudolf Kempe leading the Staatskapelle Dresden is, far and away, the best set of the orchestral works of Strauss ever recorded. It has fabulous sound: rich, deep, glowing German EMI sound ideal for Strauss' lushly opulent scores. It has fabulous playing: the Staatskapelle Dresden had the best instruments in East Germany and with them it made lavishly sensual and technically impeccable ...
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Let's get it straight from the start -- this set of the orchestral works of Richard Strauss recorded in the early '70s for German EMI with Rudolf Kempe leading the Staatskapelle Dresden is, far and away, the best set of the orchestral works of Strauss ever recorded. It has fabulous sound: rich, deep, glowing German EMI sound ideal for Strauss' lushly opulent scores. It has fabulous playing: the Staatskapelle Dresden had the best instruments in East Germany and with them it made lavishly sensual and technically impeccable music out of Strauss' highly virtuosic scores. It has terrific conducting: Rudolf Kempe, a warmhearted professional, always emphasized the dramatic over the rhetorical and the lyrical over the epic in his interpretations, and these qualities suited Strauss' deeply human scores. It has almost everything he composed for orchestra -- Kempe and the Staatskapelle recorded almost every one of Strauss' sometimes over-expansively executed scores from the best-known works -- Also Sprach...
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