Fritz Reiner Richard Strauss recordings

[Barbirollians]

Thrilling indeed. The whole of that box is pretty astonishing but of the RCA stereo recordings in there my personal highlights are the Heldenleben, Bourgeois gentilhomme and a really glorious, radiant and tender Don Quixote.

Yes the Don Quixote is particularly lovely - as are the Rosenkavalier Waltzes on the echo Viennese in Chicago " Vienna" record of Strauss family waltzes .

[Bryn]

There's a rather strange listing of a five and a half hours collection entitled "Fritz Reiner plays Richard Strauss" on the QOBUX app. I have not been able to find it otherwise on the QOBUZ site. It is attributed to the "Unchained Melody" label and is claimed to have been released on April 1st 2012. Even stranger, the "main artist" is given as Gustav Mahler! I am currently importing it and will post later on what I get. Oh, and despite everything in the set being by Richard Straus, the composer is given as "Various Composers". QOBUZ seem to be taking a leaf out of Amazon's book.

Well, I have leapt to the Final Scene of Salome as it was the first Strauss/Reiner recording I ever had on LP. It's definitely the recording with Inge Borkh, though she is quite uncredited here. The transfer sounds reasonable enough. Perhaps jlw might be able to find it on the main QOBUZ site. I still can't.

The set comprises: Don Quixote, Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, Tod und Verklärung, Scenes from Elektra and Salome, Symphonia Domestica, Burleske, and Le Burgeois Gentilhomme.

[reinerfan]

The Sony/RCA big box was an essential purchase for anyone who enjoyed thrilling orchestral playing and positive interpretations. Reiner's Richard Strauss was always memorable, and some of you may remember that before the box was issued some single discs were isssued in SACD, with excellent re-mastering. The improvement over the normal CDs is considerablle, and the Richard Strauss works issued in this format were:-
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Rosenkavalier Waltzes
Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben
Elektra & Salome scenes
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Sinfonia Domestica.
Some of these may be lurking second-hand, and if they are at the right price, and you can play SACD, they are well worth acquiring.