Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7355 in Digital Music Album
• Published on: 1996-04-09
• Released on: 1996-04-09
• Running time: 0 seconds

Customer Reviews

Excellent Strauss representative in a modest collection
This is another example of 'big' music, major works by Strauss by THE major post WW II German conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. I probably would have never bothered to spend much time listening to Richard Strauss if it were not for the fact that the first few bars of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' was the opening music for Stanley Kubrick's '2001'. And, I believe it was this version (or one sounding extremely similar to this one) which was used by Kubrick. As a fan of liturgical music, I have to say that Strauss' 'Zarathustra' may be thought of as 'anti-liturgical' music, since it takes its title and temper from the philosopher Friedrich Nietsche's most famous work, a distinctly anti-Christian, existential source document. The other works on this recording are also 'high' Strauss, especially 'Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche', a celebration of classic German folklore.

There must be hundreds of 'Zarathustra' recordings, but if you must have at least one, this one is a winner, especially at the price.

Great! Truly one of the very finest Zarathustras
Herbert von Karajan recorded the great Strauss tone-poem Also Sprach Zarathustra three times, each time it was exceptional and each record ranks at the top of the mountain, so to speak. The first record was in 1959 with the Vienna Philharmornic. That was the version used by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey. This version that I'm reviewing here is from 1974 with the Berlin Philharmonic and there is a final version from 1983, also with Berlin. This 1974 account is probably the best ever from Karajan and possibly anybody. Perhaps the later 1983 has deeper, richer digital sound but this 1974 account is more passionate and breaths fire. The only reason I give it four and not five stars is the recording itself. The remastering has really brightened up the aural image and it sounds quite fierce at times. The later version, coupled with the tone-poem Don Juan is on the Karajan Gold disc, catalog number 439 016-2. Make sure you get that Gold disc to compare and contrast. If you're a fan of this work, you might want to get them both as there are a few, albeit, slight differences in the 2 recordings.

On this 1974 record I'm reviewing, track 2, Of the Backworldsmen is tremendously powerful, such sweeping string sound unlike in any Zarathustra you've ever heard and let's not forget to mention the riveting timpani at the famous opening. Unbelievable! However the later version packs quite a punch too in places on account of the digital sound, but it's not as driven or intense as this earlier Karajan version.

As for the music itself, Zarathustra is one of the most evocative and fascinating of the orchestral works of Strauss, from the famous opening to the transcendent fury to come to the hushed, meditative polytonal ending, contrasting the two keys representing man and nature. I want to pay particular attention to a couple of passages that display Strauss' strengths and weaknesses in this work. Listen to track 6, subtitled Of Science and Learning. Strauss composes a fugue based on all 12 tones of the chromatic scale, years before Schoenberg's shenanigans. The fugue is great, a dark sound rumbling from the bowels of the orchestra and then it grows and grows and wham, you get this ultra sweet sound on high violins! What's up with that? Strauss schmaltzing it up! Well, you can't have everything. Later in the work, Strauss uses the Viennesse waltz to convey the dance of Nietzsche's Superman. This is Strauss being at his ironic and humorous best and worst! Later the orchestra expands and explodes with unrelenting force in the part just before the Midnight Bell and then the music closes beautifully in the Song of the Grave. All in all, the tone-poem is a stunning display of orchestral wizardry and power and no composer in history could utilize the modern orchestra to the farthest range of it's capabilities like Richard Strauss. ( Gustav Mahler, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Maurice Ravel and Ottorino Respighi are four of his contemporary challengers. Before them, Hector Berlioz was one of the true orchestral innovators and Richard Wagner revolutionized orchestral sound and what the orchestra could do. He stands apart from the others. Without Richard Wagner, there would be no Strauss or Mahler. )

The other works on this CD are quite a success as well, Karajan loved the tone-poem Don Juan and played it many times, Till Eulenspiegel is played well too, I might prefer Haitink's version here. The dance of the seven veils from Salome is highly sensual, but I prefer the power and sexual excitement of Solti's recording for this Salome excerpt.

I've heard many Zarathustras, two versions by Solti, the 1954 and 1960 Reiner versions as well as Kempe, Sawallisch, Boulez, Previn, Haitink and others, but it's Karajan I return to. This 1974 is top of the line but make sure to add the digital 1983 recording to your collection as well for comparison's sake, turn it up loud and be swept into ecstasy while sending all your neighbors into a fury!

Til Eulenspiegel is the reason I have this C.D.!
Herbert Von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic did a splendid job on one of my personal favorite classic pieces, Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. It's 15 minutes worth of wonderful music put together in this C.D. along with Also Sprach Zarathustra! Enjoyable listening with this c.d.!!