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Reiner's Chicago Richard Strauss: A Touchstone

Mark E. Farrington | Albany, NY | 10/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fritz Reiner was more than a fanatical, perfectionistic musical technocrat...His greatest recordings are stamped with undeniable

humanity, humor, flexibility, even charm- apart from their

bedrock interpretative honesty and (I choose these words carefully) sheer lust for quality. All these things are represented by Reiner's fabled Living Stereo Chicago recordings of Richard Strauss.



Of course, there are gaps : no AUS ITALIEN or MACBETH, and no ALPENSINFONIE; you must turn to Rudolf Kempe's Dresden box for definitive stereo versions of these. And Reiner's only stereo versions of TOD & TILL (Vienna, 1956) are on a Decca Legends disc. Now, John Culshaw waxed enthusiastic about these sessions, because, no doubt, Reiner got the Vienna to play more accurately than Culshaw & Co. were used to hearing them play. But, overall, these versions lack the focus and sheer characterization of the 1950 RCA mono versions. (The mono TILL is finally available in the Reiner volume of GREAT CONDUCTORS OF THE 20th CENTURY. The TOD UND VERKLARUNG was available on a 1990 BMG CD, coupled with an earlier transfer of the SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA than the one in this present box. This TOD is currently available on a German BMG 2-fer ( # 74321846082), along with Reiner's '54 ZARATHUSTRA & HELDENLEBEN, and Eugen Jochum's ( ! ) TILL.)



With those details out of the way, what a LIVING STEREO treasure chest, here! And all 20-bit remastered, in that famous warm, sweet, tube-electronicish sound from the master tapes...Let's take them on, in order of recording:



The March 1954 HELDENLEBEN (just LISTEN to it, I won't waste space trying to describe it), starts off a journey into a lost world of disciplined melos and relative historical proximity to the composer himself. The '54 ZARATHUSTRA (admittedly with an orchestra-and-organ pitch clash, at the end of the Sunrise) and the SALOME DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS are still "demo" recordings...The December '54 DON JUAN is even more urgently passionate than the 1941 Pittsburgh version or the 1960 remake (which IS available, coupled with all of Reiner's Living Stereo Wagner).



The SALOME & ELEKTRA scenes, with Inge Borkh, are stupendous;

too bad RCA Victor didn't spring for one more singer and include Klytaemnestra's dream sequence- the most bone-chilling part of the score. (Search out Reiner's 1952 Met broadcast of ELEKTRA, with Astrid Varnay.)



The BURGER ALS EDELMANN Suite of April 1956 (minus the 5th & 6th movements) is one of the greatest Strauss recordings of all time: awash in tonal beauty, yet acerbic in its ruthless satire of Monsieur Jourdain. A wiseass-ness coupled with extremely disciplined culture. Which shows why he was Fritz Reiner, and we're not.



As if all that weren't enough, six months later Reiner achieves the impossible: he miraculously holds together the sprawly,

nearly-out-of-control structure of the SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA,

and brings out the humor and high spirits which this piece

MUST have if is is not to either fall apart, or come off as hopelessly trivial.



The BURLESKE of March 1957, with Byron Janis, is not without its poetic structure, and the sparks fly without ceasing- in a way almost identical with (and perhaps more fitting in) their '59 recording of Liszt's TOTENTANZ (which is available on THE REINER SOUND.) For a recording that captures more of this work's subtle wit and beauty, go to Kempe's Dresden version, with pianist Malcolm Frager.



The ROSENKAVALIER WALTZES, in an arrangement by Reiner himself, are good enough to be frustrating, because one finds one self wanting to hear ALL of this opera, with Reiner and his Chicago. (No such luck, but you CAN get Reiner's fabled 1949 MET production on imported Naxos.)



The April 1959 DON QUIOXTE, with Antonio Janigro on cello, is a spell of autumnal regret and incisive musical characterization, never tippping over into the cartoon-like.



Finally, there's the 1962 remake of ZARTHUSTRA, Reiner's very last Strauss recording...The orchestra-organ pitch clash is MUCH less severe, but, overall, it must be admitted that, both sonically and musically, the '54 version has far more electricity and characterization (i.e., "higher highs, and lower lows"). Still, the '62 version is worth having for the greater contemplative warmth which Reiner brings to the last five minutes of the score. As if Der Fritzl were contemplating his own not-too-distant end. This is so affecting that it almost makes one cease to regret that the energy/time/money put into this not-entirely-necessary remake COULD have gone into, say, a Reiner/Living Stereo ALPENSINFONIE, Beethoven's FOURTH & EIGHTH, a LE SACRE, a FIREBIRD, or a Brahms FIRST- to name some of the glaring omissions in the Reiner studio discography.



Still, these recordings opened the commercial way for other eventual treasures, such as Kempe's Dresden set and some of Szell's Cleveland Strauss.



Sadly, this set may "go," soon. Snap it up ASAP and be intrigued, enraptured, and instructed.



"

NOBODY conducted Richard Strauss better!

Mark E. Farrington | 03/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fritz Reiner was the greatest authority on the music of Richard Strauss, with the likely exception being the composer himself. RCA knew that they had the "cream of the crop" with Reiner in these works, and had the foresight to accord Reiner cutting-edge 1950's technology (early high-quality 3-track stereo), and the best available recording technicians in this country (Jack Pfeiffer, Leslie Chase, Richard Mohr, and Lewis Layton). You absolutely CANNOT go wrong with purchasing this set, for as the years go by, the pennies spent will continue to return musical dividends that will reinvest themselves with each hearing, as you learn over time just how good Reiner was with this music in comparison to others. Indicative of this was when I attended a banquet featuring National Symphony Orchestra superstar conductor Leonard Slatkin, when someone asked him what recordings he planned to make with that orchestra. He answered that he didn't plan to make recordings of the "warhorses," for why should he make a recording of Richard Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben," when Reiner said all that there is to say about it? Enough said!The only disappointments (and they are small) are the omission of Reiner's later 1960 recording of "Don Juan" and the recordings of "Till Eulenspiegel" and "Death and Transfiguration" he made with the Vienna Philharmonic, which initially appeared on RCA Living Stereo LPs. The likely reason for the omission of the Vienna recordings is that these are currently under license to Polygram (Decca/London). Buy this set and enjoy/cherish!"

Reiner's Strauss

Mark E. Farrington | 10/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Probably no one conducted the music of Richard Strass better than Fritz Reiner. I've heard most of these recordings in other packages, including the original RCA Victor "Living Stereo" LPs. The digitally-reprocessed versions are even more astounding. The earliest of the recordings was made in March 1954 and it doesn't seem possible because the sound is every bit as good as today's digital recordings. It's a real tribute to the RCA engineers, who were experimenting with stereophonic sound using a triple track tape recorder. The 1954 "Also sprach Zarathustra" remains a milestone for intensity, drive, and excitement; the waltz sections are particularly haunting and relentless. The 1962 recording of the same piece is not as sensational as the 1954 version, perhaps because Reiner's health was failing (he died the following year), but it's still quite good. I especially like his "Dance of the Seven Veils" from "Salome"; it is one of the more intense performances of the works, perhaps only matched by Antal Dorati's 1963 recording with the Royal Philharmonic of London for a special Reader's Digest boxed set. Overall, Reiner's performances with the Chicago Symphony were only matched by Strauss' own 1944 recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded with a Magnetophon tape recorder in the Vienna State Opera House. What a shame that all those recordings are not currently available; they last appeared in a special box set of LPs issued by Vanguard."