Haitink Alpensinfonie

[etucker82]

(Hi.  I'm Evan.  I like Mahler, and I like what I've read here )

Has anyone else heard the new Haitink/LSO Alpensinfonie?  I'm no knee-jerk Haitink fanboy but it struck me as one of the great recordings of that work (though to be honest I've never heard his recording with the Concertgebouw).  In this case, I think the understatement works incredibly well.  I know CT wasn't entirely complementary of it, but many of the conductors usually recommended in Strauss seem to me to have fallen off the rails in this extremely difficult piece (Karajan loses focus, Bohm is hampered by bad playing and Solti is just too bombastic). 

Kempe/Dresden remains supreme for me in this work (nothing iconoclastic there), but there have been a couple recent recordings that also impressed me enormously.  Haitink/LSO is obviously one but also Jansons/Concertgebouw and Bychkov/WDR.  There are still a lot of recordings I still haven't heard of it, but I also wonder if I'm alone in thinking that it's one of Strauss's most underrated works - a realization I only came to recently.   

[John Kim]

classicstoday gave a lukewarm 7/9 to this recording.

Strange, because I like Haitink's RCO version a lot. But my current favorite is the remastered Karajan Gold ed. on DG. The Berlin strings are simply unmatched by all other world class orchestras including RCO; the last episode depicting the sunset is in its own class. I also like Zubin Mehta's earlier recording with LAPO (his remake with BPO is pretty good too albeit it's much slower).

John,

[Matthew]

I agree that this is one of Strauss's most underrated works, although less so than it used to be (its reputation seems to have risen in recent years). I think spiritually it's perhaps Strauss at his most Mahlerian, and there are moments that remind me very much of Mahler. There's one particular moment towards the end where I've always thought the harmony was straight out of the M6 Andante, and of course the two works both employ cowbells, not so much for the literal as for the spiritual associations. Apparently Strauss had Mahler in mind when he revisited the piece in 1911 just after Mahler had passed away.

[etucker82]

John: CT doesn't much seem to like Haitink (at least in recent vintage), and I can certainly understand why even if I think they're too hard on him.  Karajan's famous recording, as with most of his work, doesn't do as much for me as it seems to do for millions of others.  I admire the control enormously, but too often I fail to see the point of it.  I haven't heard either Mehta, but temperamentally he strikes me as fantastic for the piece. 

Matthew: The passage isn't just harmonically straight out of M6 but the orchestration is too.  Absolutely agreed about the Mahlerian qualities.  Alex Ross, not the biggest Mahler fan himself, writes beautifully in The Rest Is Noise about its Mahlerian feel.  I always had anidea for an orchestral concert to put the completed Adagio from M10 on the first half and then the Alpensimphonie on the second.

[Zoltan]

Alex Ross, not the biggest Mahler fan himself, writes beautifully in The Rest Is Noise about its Mahlerian feel. 

He is not? I always thought of him as a Mahler fan. Though, you might wanted to say "not the biggest Strauss fan"?

[etucker82]

Ross had an article a while back that was rather critical of Mahler - said that Mahler was the musician who turned opera into an elitist artform and that his music displays a troubling nasty streak - though there's no doubt that he does still like the music.  Richard Strauss on the other hand can seem to do no wrong for Ross.  His article on Strauss is titled 'composer of the century.'  Personally, I do think there's a troubling tendency to write Strauss off as a guilty pleasure, but I still think Ross was taking it a bit too far. 

[barry guerrero]

I've heard the Haitink, and I can't say that I'm crazy about it. If there few were recordings available of the work, it would certainly suffice. But among recent recordings, I very much like the Fabio Luisi/Dresden Staatskapelle one on RCA, as well as the new Janowski/Pittsburgh one on Pentatone. The Vienna Phil. has made two fine recordings of the work; one with Previn on Telarc, and the other being the superb Ozawa one on Philips (avail. in an awesome sounding DVD-A too). Among older recordings, I second the good vibes expressed for Kempe/Staatskapelle Dresden on EMI, as well as Mehta/L.A. Phil. on Decca.

The one I'm curious about is the new Bychkov/WDR Koln S.O. (I forget that label name).

[Zoltan]

Ross had an article a while back that was rather critical of Mahler - said that Mahler was the musician who turned opera into an elitist artform and that his music displays a troubling nasty streak - though there's no doubt that he does still like the music.  Richard Strauss on the other hand can seem to do no wrong for Ross.  His article on Strauss is titled 'composer of the century.'  Personally, I do think there's a troubling tendency to write Strauss off as a guilty pleasure, but I still think Ross was taking it a bit too far. 

Hm, interesting. Could it be this the article you mean: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n16/alex-ross/the-biggest-rockets?
Could it be a different Alex Ross (probably not).

[etucker82]

Barry: I just read the CT review of Janowski/Pittsburgh and I'm very curious about it (especially after the Brahms recordings).  I haven't heard the Luisi/Dresden recording, but a performance of that combo at the Proms is up on youtube and it's certainly very good.  Perhaps nobody gets into the weird quirks of Strauss's soundworld better, but it's still a little too virtuoso/flashy for my taste.  I know...it's Strauss, but I guess I just like mine with a little less bling.  I haven't heard Ozawa or Previn, but I'm sure either would do well in this piece. 

Also, Strauss made a pretty excellent recording of his own in 1941 with the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra.  Faster even than Solti, but well played and the pacing sounds completely natural (sound obviously ain't much to write home about). 

Zoltan: It's the same Alex Ross, but no it's not from LRB.  The article used to be up when his old website was allowed to link to his New Yorker articles.  Now I'm having great difficulty finding it.  I'll keep looking and if I find it I'll certainly post it. 

[techniquest]

Despite hearing a good few recordings and performances now, I still fall back to the Cleveland / Ashkenazy recording on Decca.

[barry guerrero]

I've actually never heard that one, but I'm sure that Cleveland sounds great. Ashkenazy made a good recording of the work with the Czech Phil. as well.

[Russell]

One my very favorite recordings of this work is a live Sinopoli/Staatskapelle Dresden on DVD.  Great sound quality and visuals (I always get a kick out of watching the musicians operate the wind machine and "thunder sheet"!) and luminous performance.

Russell

[barry guerrero]

Yes, that's really good too!

[etucker82]

Has anyone heard the recording Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (I get uncomfortable using any less than his full name because I'm not sure how to abbreviate it) did with the Dresden Philharmonic? 

[Damfino]

Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos has the coolest conductor name of all time! (Actually it's Frühbeck)