Strauss

This issue was on the top of my list as soon as I heard about it. And it does not disappoint! Beautifully packaged, with an LP-size booklet and the CD's logically grouped. I have listened to most of these recordings for many years now, and was looking forward to renewing the acquaintance. Unfortunately, DG did not provide any information on the remastering process. I would have liked to know if the CD's were remastered 24 bit/ 96 Khz or the newer 24 bit/ 192 Khz (like the new Deccca Most Wanted Recitals). The CD sound is excellent, regardless, but the most important for me was the Blu-Ray Pure Audio disc. Even played on my modest DVD player, but with the D to A converter bypassed (I used the D/A converter of my pre-amp) the sound is phenomenal.Also sprach Zarathustra was uninteresting in the LP/CD version, but not here. Great presence and beautiful wide stereo sound.Gundula Janowitz has more body and focus to her voice in the Four Last Songs. Some disappointment persists in the recording of the Don Quichotte; the sound evidently could not be bettered. I had to get used to the sound of the Heldenleben. It sounded dull on first listening, but later playings proved my first impression to be wrong.A great benefit is the "extra" recording of "Der Rosenkavalier". Recorded live in Salzburg in 1964, the sound is remarkably clear and full-bodied. And the performance is one you could not put together today at any price. These singers knew this music by heart, many having lived with Strauss' music all their lives. A performance to treasure.All in all, a great addition to the catalog, even if you have many of the recordings in your collection. I don't suppose this will be available for very long, so grab it.

I have a love/hate relationship with the LP-sized presentation. Overall, I like it. It appeals to my nostalgia on most days, and it fits with the other sets I have this size (Gunther Wand Great Recordings and the Bruno Walter set) and my few remaining LPs. The recordings sound great. In this repertoire, for me, Reiner and Karajan are beyond criticism (and I find plenty to criticize about them in other repertoire!). I put the Blu-ray on, played through my crap TV speakers; I'm sure it sounds awesome with a great system, but I still got a full day of Strauss without having to touch a remote control or swap a disk!

Remastered performances for my library.....

Karajan's 1959-1973 Richard Strauss recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic on six newly remastered CDs --- OR one Blu-Ray Audio Disc (it plays for 5 hours, 18 minutes).See below for a discussion of Blu-Ray technology.Plus five additional CDs of Vienna and Amsterdam recordings, and the 1980 Berlin Philharmonic Alpine Symphony (not on Blu-Ray).Three orchestras are involved:Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1943 (Wartime Polydor recordings)Vienna Philharmonic, 1959 (Decca)Berlin Philharmonic, 1959-1980 (Deutsche Gramophon)Two recordings of Also Sprach Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel -- Three recordings of Don Juan and Salome's Dance.- Eine Alpensinfonie - 1980 Berlin- Also sprach Zarathustra - 1959 Vienna / 1973 Berlin*- Concerto for Horn No. 2 (Norbert Hauptman) - 1973 Berlin*- Concerto for Oboe (Lothar Koch) - 1969 Berlin*- Don Juan - 1943 Amsterdam / 1959 Vienna / 1973 Berlin*- Don Quixote (Pierre Fournier, cello) - 1965 Berlin*- Ein Heldenleben - 1959 Berlin*- Metamorphosen - 1969 Berlin*- Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils - 1943 Amsterdam / 1959 Vienna / 1973 Berlin*- Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche - 1959 Vienna / 1973 Berlin*- Tod und Verklärung - 1973 Berlin*- Four Last Songs (Gundula Janowitz, soprano) - 1973 Berlin*- Der Rosenkavalier - complete opera - 1960 Vienna, broadcast from the Salzburg Festival* on the Blu-RayAMSTERDAM CONCERTGEBOUW:The 1943 recordings left a bitter taste in Amsterdam.Holland was occupied by the Nazis;Herbert von Karajan was not a welcome visitor.(he was not invited back after the war).Fascinating, but kind of creepy.[hint: for ease of navigation, read the review though to the end, then come back and click on the links.]VIENNA PHILHARMONIC:Karajan's first postwar success was a series of recordings done for EMI with the Vienna Philharmonic,including the first recording of Strauss' new work, "Metamorphosen": The Vienna Philharmonic Recordings 1946-1949 (Karajan Official Remastered Edition) The Myth of German Efficiency:In 1959 Karajan returned to Vienna to make some stereo recordings for Decca.Four recordings from those sessions are in this box.But they completely forgot a fifth recording:The 1959 Tod und Verklärung with the Vienna Philharmonic, last seen in:  Karajan The Legendary Decca Recordings (there was room for it)A highlight of this box is the 1960 Salzburg Festival performance of Der Rosenkavalier with the Vienna Philharmonic (mono).Karajan was already responsible for one of the great Rosenkavaliers on record, the 1956 EMI stereo recording with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Christa Ludwig.The Salzburg recording, with Lisa della Casa (Marschallin) and Senta Jurinac (Octavian), is it's equal in everything but recorded sound.Libretto and translation included.BERLIN PHILHARMONIC:Interpretively, I think the 1959-1973 Berlin Philharmonic recordings are Karajan at his ripest.The post-1980 recordings are a bit over-ripe (I make an exception for the Alpine Symphony, which is just right).The analog Berlin recordings in this box were recorded in the Jesus-Christus Kirche,with a much warmer acoustic than the orchestra's regular concert hall, the Philharmonie.After the 1974 decision to record in the Philharmonie, lower strings still recorded well,but the violins lost some of their accustomed sweetness.(not helped by the aging Karajan's insistence on final approval - as we age we don't hear highs as clearly as before).After his death, these recordings were remastered - rebalancing the treble(the "Karajan Gold" series).They now actually sound pretty good - but still second best.In the case of Jesus-Christus vs. Philharmonie, Deutsche Gramophon has apparently come around to my side.They chose Karajan's Jesus-Christus Kirche recordings from the 60's and 70's to show off the new Blu-Ray Audio technology,ignoring his post-1980 Philharmonie digital recordings.The 1980 recording of the Alpine Symphony on CD 7 is not an analog recording as advertised,but one of Karajan's earliest digital recordings.Its not on the Blu-Ray, even though there was room.Karajan went on to digitally re-record an additional eight works of Strauss.All the 1980-1985 digital recordings are inexpensively gathered together in:  Strauss, R.: Orchestral Works There is also a new EMI/Warner box with Karajan's only recording of Strauss' Symphonia Domestica, recorded in 1974 with the Berlin Philharmonic: Orchestral Recordings From Germany & Austria Sep 1970 - Jan 1981 I never much cared for the Symphonia Domestica, but Karajan's performance is quite enjoyablePACKAGING:Everything comes in an oversized 12 x 12 x 1 inch box.Plus an 80 page book with new articles and a lot of photographs.Beautiful productionAwkward size. Very retro, but it doesn't fit on my CD shelf (it barely fits on my bookshelf).P.S. There is a companion Blue Ray Deluxe Edition devoted to Karajan's 1962 Beethoven cycle:  Karajan: Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 (1963) Remastered [Deluxe Limited Edition-5 CDs + 1 Blu-Ray Audio ]Once again, DG went with his earlier Jesus-Christus recordings over the Philharmonie remakes.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TECHNICAL STUFF:Blu-Ray Audio appears to be the wave of the future.Its not uncommon to find ordinary CDs remastered at "24-bit/96 kHz", but the CD medium is incapable of accurately reproducing everything on the master.You need SACD or Blu-Ray Audio to realise the full potential of the original master tape.YOU DON'T NEED A SPECIAL BLU-RAY AUDIO PLAYER.It will play on any Blu-Ray Video player.Keep the video output connected to your TV to read the disc menu.Connect the audio to your Hi-Fi system.The only real advantage of Blu-Ray over the older SACD technology is a longer playing time - The Blu-Ray Audio disc included with Solti's Ring plays for fifteen hours.Two channels of high definition sound: 2.0 LPCM 24-bit/96 kHZ (these numbers can theoretically go higher on Blu-Ray).Blu-Ray is capable of more than two channels.The Carlos Kleiber Blu-Ray Audio Deluxe Edition included an option of 5.0 surround sound, remixed from the master tape: Complete Orchestra Recordings The Karajan Blu-Ray Audio takes a purist approach: Just the two channels as originally issued.Video content on the Blu-Ray is minimal:11 compositions = 45 individual movements.The track listing on your TV screen permits access to each movement.You also get eleven standard CDs - only CDs 1-6, the Berlin Philharmonic recordings 1959-1973, are on the Blu-Ray (5 hours, 18 minutes in length).The Blu-Ray could have been longer.There was room for the 1980 Alpine Symphony (CD 7).Oh, well.Remastering for CDs 1-6 is credited to Lennart Jeschke.Remastering of CDs 7-11 is uncredited.The Blu-Ray Audio is credited to msm-studiosBlu-Ray Audio is almost certainly an improvement, but it's hard for me to judge:1) My ears are 65 years old.2) The Berlin Philharmonic is a tight squeeze in my apartment - My landlord won't allow concert hall realism in his building.Playing Blu-Ray Audio with the volume turned down is self-defeating.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECOMMENDED BY THE WORLD'S FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON THE MUSIC OF RICHARD STRAUSS:Richard Strauss, who lived until 1949, had kind words for Karajan's early work,but their relationship was nowhere near as close or lengthy as that of Strauss with four other conductors:Fitz Reiner and George Szell in the teens and '20s,Clemens Krauss and Karl Bohm in the '30s and '40s.These four left us with a sizeable legacy of Strauss recordings, all but Krauss in stereo:Fritz Reiner:  Fritz Reiner Conducts Richard Strauss - The Complete RCA and Columbia Recordings George Szell: assorted CDs, not yet collected in a box.Clemens Krauss:  Clemens Krauss - Richard Strauss - The Complete Decca Recordings Karl Bohm:  Richard Strauss: Tone Poems Richard Strauss' conducting of his own music was lean and athletic:  Strauss Plays Strauss None of the schmaltz and angst that you get from a conductor like Karajan.Fritz Reiner and George Szell are the stereo conductors whose approach most closely resembles that of the composer.Richard Strauss' 1929 recording of Don Juan times in at 15:36Reiner's three recordings: 15:47 in 1941 , 16:00 in 1954 , 16:24 in 1960_Compared with Karajan: 17:11 in 1959 , 18:03 in 1973 , 18:13 in 1983.Karajan is unbeatable in the Alpine Symphony and Also Sprach Zarathustra, especially the 1973 Berlin recording in this box (not his 1984 digital remake with harsher sound).For the other symphonic poems, I am more comfortable with Reiner (though he never recorded the Alpine Symphony or Metamorphosen),but I am not so biased that I can't live happily with both.Especially since everything is reasonably priced (shop around).And the Blu-Ray is cool.- but the Karajan is a "Limited Edition" (so act quickly).

To my ears the remasters to CD are a clearly a gain (by some considerable margin) on their many previous excellent incarnations. After first sampling through the discs I then listened to Death and Transfiguration through and was totally gob smacked, entirely convinced that I'd made an essential purchase. Ein Heldenlieben and Don Quixote are tremendous - and so are the rest. How good? Those who can remember Garfield Sobers back in 1968 smacking 36 runs off 6 balls for Nottingham against Swansea may get a drift of the sheer galvanising impact made by a genius in the execution of his craft, here Karajan and his Berliners are perhaps at their very best.The Blu Ray is even better... however it stops short of An Alpine Symphony which is a shame though the CD to be fare serves that piece excellently well.The sumptuous presentation box may not fit on everyone's CD shelf but it does make a statement of intent, being well structured and organised. 3 folded double sleeved card trays, LP sized, hold the discs with basic identification. An 80 page booklet - likewise LP sized discusses the history and the music with text and images being a joy to behold. The famous Decca recording of Also Sprach Zarathustra is happily included in the set however the absence of the Sinfonia Domestica Op 53 (recorded on EMI, now Warner) is for me the single disappointment.

A set worthy of Karajan's pre-eminence as a Straussian. Top-drawer recordings, superb remasters all beautifully presented. They say it's a Limited Edition, so I'd advise immediate purchase.

I had the feeling this limited run (of 5000, I believe) reissue would cause some stir in the reviews, and I was right! Some of the complaints I can sympathize with, and some I can't. In the LP-size box you get three folders holding the 12 discs (11CDs and one DVD Audio) plus a well-illustrated booklet. I have no issue with the size of the package, as it sits with similarly-sized DG boxes (Bernstein, Harnoncourt, etc). No, it won't fit alphabetically on my CD-sized shelves, but this is a special edition and I like the presentation as it makes it "special".As for the remastering, I compared these discs to original LPs and previously issues CDs, and the sound is a definite improvement, with more dynamics, less background noise, and better frequency range. The effects are most notable on the tone poems, to my ears.The choice of material in the box is interesting. Sure, three discs for Rosenkavalier may seem overkill in a Strauss Tone Poem box, and I am not a huge fan of this opera, but I don't mind it being here as it was a Karajan recording. The same applies to the older Concertgebouw recordings. This box is meant as a tribute to Strauss and Karajan, and as such those pieces deserve to be here to complete the DG set.Interpretation is the other issue people seem to have: was Karajan a good Strauss interpreter? I grew up with LPs of many of these works (his Also Sprach was my definitive version for years), and I personally think Karajan is underrated in these recordings. Listening to them now, years later, I like what he did, and it stands up well against current releases.So, while some may not like the inclusion of some works, and some may not like the box, I quite like this set and will listen to it for years to come. It's one of the better reissued and remasters of the year, to my ears.

I would have given this a 5 star review based on Karajan's undisputed interpretations (an almost universal assessment which needs no further elaboration). But now to the content and the sound. The addition of Der Rosenkavalier to an otherwise mostly orchestral lineup seems odd. It could easily have been left off, especially if the box set would have cost less. The other oddity is why all the orchestral works were not on the Bluray. Apart from Karajan himself I purchased this based on "sound". There is a much cheaper box set of these available, but there was no indication that they had been newly digitally remastered. Coupled with the fact that this includes a Bluray audio I elected to buy the more expensive package. The CDs (except for the earliest recordings) sound fabulous, but I do have a love-hate relationship with Bluray audio. Now that I have a new high end audiophile system, I find CDs generally sound better but am not sure about the Bluray. Is it cleaner and more accurate or just more sharp and glassy? I find SACDs are now sounding much much better on my new system, so after this latest Bluray venture I'm inclined to conclude that all future audiophile purchases that I make should be SACD and to leave Bluray audio well enough alone. One last comment... I concur with other reviewers that the LP size box packaging is a pain in the....

This is an essential purchase for any serious Strauss fan. The music and quality of the recordings are brilliant and vivid. The boxset itself is huge! I was expecting a standard box but it's the size of a vinyl boxset. Even the booklet is huge. A really wonderful packaging. Highly recommend