| R Strauss Alpine Sym: Jonas Alber & BraunschweigSO = Exciting, Lean, Vivid (review from amazon.com) |
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The risk taker in me got a hold, and I ordered this new super audio disc. Doubts? Well, I had plenty of them. I haven't heard much about Jonas Alber, the conductor, though as it happens, internet information advises us that he is now something of a newcomer whose leadership will indeed rise to greater heights. The orchestra is a regional German band, though with a very old pedigree. But recalling the regional bands and radio orchestras of post-World War II Germany, I rather expected to hear: thin strings, wobbly brass, honky reeds, watery intonation, or maybe some unwelcome combination of all of the possible musical problems.
So I must loudly apologize, right off.
Jonas Alber moulds and paces this Strauss tone poem, unerringly, and vividly. He characterizes each of the 22 sections of the larger work, while never neglecting the sense of the whole. This reminds me of just how good old George Szell in the USA could make Richard Strauss hang together, all of a piece, aided and abetted by the cool expertise he had helped build into the Cleveland Orchestra. Winning leadership, then.
I had to look up Braunschweig on the world maps. That probably says more about me than about the ancient duchy. As it happens, the regional German bands seem to be having something of a new golden age. Munich rose, not least under Celibidache and others. Hamburg rose under Wand and forebears. Bamberg is shining under Jonathan Nott and others. Now add the Braunschweigers to the pay-attention list. Indeed this is a bit startling, like having, say, the Tulsa Philharmonic in USA suddenly join the big ones in a festival of new excellence.
The basic sound is lean, muscular, and clean-clear in all departments. The strings do not have that lush plenitude we associate with, say, Vienna or Philadelphia (or any orchestra under Stokowski?) - but they meet all the musical demands, and then some. The woodwinds are never out of tune, and never lost in the panoply of the musical fabric. The brass - which in this tone poem are numerous, including off-stage horns trilling and doing fanfares, don't miss a cue, either.
Bravo to all members of the band, then. Hats off, everybody.
Thanks to the full-frequency super audio recording in all channels, a listener can hear just about everything going on. One is perhaps reminded of Richard Strauss' famous remark to himself upon hearing the first rehearsals - Well, at last, I have learned to orchestrate.
If you are closed to any sound but the lush Vienna or other venue, this orchestra will challenge your presumptions that tone and flush are the whole heart of Richard Strauss' musical genius. Thanks to their lean and muscular presence, one begins to appreciate Strauss as a more of a polyphonist, surprise, surprise. And not one iota of stinting on musical-tonal color, either.
If the destination is the journey, this disc holds its own place on my keeper shelf. There are other big-name bands for competition, but bravo, thanks to the Braunschweigers and to conductor Jonas Alber. If Coviello has any sense at all, they might consider letting the Braunschweigers do more Richard Strauss, and end up giving the major labels quite a run for their customer's money. Did I say it was recorded in live concerts? Just think about that one while you listen. Fear not, and get this one if you love this music, and maybe can stand to be in the audience of a very strong German regional orchestra concert.
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