Re: Re: Re: An Alpine Symphony


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Posted by different opinion on July 04, 2000 at 04:06:02:

In Reply to: Re: Re: An Alpine Symphony posted by John on July 03, 2000 at 10:27:01:

I find the Barenboim Alpine Symphony rather dull, even if it is the CSO; Pokorny; and Cooley. I also prefere the Mehta/L.A. Phil. one, as it's just plain more exciting. However, the Alpine Symphony is precisely the kind of piece that the Vienna Phil. plays the daylights out of (along with Elektra; Die Frau Ohne Schatten; and Salome). The bigger the piece, the better they play it! The VPO has recorded it twice: once on Telarc with Andre Previn, and a second time on Philips with Seji Ozawa. The Ozawa one is not in print in the U.S., but I do carry it in my store (Tower Classical Annex in S.F.). In addition to those fabulous single F horns that they use in Vienna, the Ozawa recording has the best wind machine and thunder sheet you'll hear in any of the storm passages, not to mention excellent cowbells. There's also an excellent Alpine Symphony with Sinopoli leading the Staatskapelle Dresden on DG. It's not available in the U.S. either, but I also carry that one in my shop as well. We're talking one of my favorite pieces here, and I don't agree with the old opinions that it wasn't one of Strauss's better works. I think it rocks.
Barry Guerrero
San Francisco


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