Released in 1996, this Chandos album of Richard Strauss' symphonic poems is a compilation of superb recordings Neeme Järvi made with the Scottish National Orchestra between 1986 and 1988. Second in the series of the complete tone poems, this double disc presents four beloved works -- Sinfonia Domestica, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Don Quixote, and Also sprach Zarathustra -- as well as one obscure, less-loved piece, Macbeth. The four popular works were composed at the height of Strauss' creativity, and each is endowed ...
Read More
Released in 1996, this Chandos album of Richard Strauss' symphonic poems is a compilation of superb recordings Neeme Järvi made with the Scottish National Orchestra between 1986 and 1988. Second in the series of the complete tone poems, this double disc presents four beloved works -- Sinfonia Domestica, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Don Quixote, and Also sprach Zarathustra -- as well as one obscure, less-loved piece, Macbeth. The four popular works were composed at the height of Strauss' creativity, and each is endowed with sophisticated orchestration, astounding melodic invention, and equal measures of subtlety and bravado. If Macbeth is the least enjoyable of the set, for its dark tone and fairly stiff, abstruse retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy, there is more than enough brilliance and color in the other works to compensate for it. But give this underdog a hearing, because inferior Strauss is still fascinating stuff, and Macbeth may still entertain with its bombastic vulgarity and odd flights...
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.