This is the first and only CD recording of Riccardo Chailly with Richard Strauss. And it immediately asks for more. In his -, - and - recordings, we got to know Chailly as a conductor who keeps up the pace. In Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss), however, Chailly is quite restrained, as if it were really great music. Maybe it was always great music. Strauss, however, was as genius as he was laconic,
… which made many - rightly or not - doubt the depth of his music. In any case, he was a master of apotheoses: slowly dying closing sections in which the orchestra bathes in a glow of resignation and dignity. As here in Also sprach Zarathustra. But also in the grandiose last minutes of Tod und Verklärung (listen to the end of the Alpensinfonie and Josephs-Legende on occasion). Very funny is the slapstick by Till Eulensreken's lustige Streiche. Who knows how many cartoon composers have been inspired by this score. (HJ)more