Strauss, Richard (1864-1949) - Also Sprach Zarathustra: Karajan / Bpo +mozart: Sinfonia Concertante K, 297b Salzburg - Import CD

Credits:

Strauss, Richard (1864-1949)

Description:

Thank you for your patience! The new release from Testament, a leading historical label that has been out of circulation for a long time, is finally back in stock! Tower Records will be the first to distribute this new release to the Japanese public through our own channels. Testament's Karajan releases have received much praise for their performance content, excellent sound quality, and rarity, as well as for their ability to tell a historical story. The live recording made at the Salzburg Festival in 1970 is also a performance of multifaceted value that should not be missed. As a newspaper review at the time put it, "Mozart's concerto symphony is like a delicate piece of silverwork on one side, and R. Strauss's symphonic poem is like a shiny nugget of gold on the other. The contrast between the two works is remarkable, and the disc is a complete album. Both works have been performed by the Berlin Philharmonic many times, and especially "Zarathustra" has been recorded by Karajan many times, but because of the contrast with Mozart, the performance seems extremely "modern" even now, more than 40 years after the recording. The Express Wien newspaper attributes this to the fact that "the orchestra of over a hundred musicians attempted a chamber music-like approach and succeeded in doing so.As for Mozart, Karajan has an EMI recording, but you can see the excellence of this live recording in the comparison of the soloists. In this live performance, the orchestra is reduced to an "opposite-front" configuration, and the woodwind soloists are arranged in a bridge-like formation in the center. In fact, "perfection" is the right word for both the soloists and the orchestra, and one can hear Karajan's philosophy and interpretation being thoroughly implemented by all the performers. In fact, Karajan did a superhuman amount of work at the Salzburg Festival in 1970. He performed two operas with the Vienna Philharmonic, Verdi's "Otello" in five performances, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" in three performances, Verdi's "Requiem," and two concerts of orchestral works with the Berlin Philharmonic, including this disc. The fact that both works were performed to such a high degree of perfection is astonishing. This is a recording that reminds us once again of Karajan's greatness.

Strauss Collection List