BaL 22.01.11 - Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Estelle, I've just placed an order to ArchivMusic: $13.99 for the CD and $7.99 postage (for the Alpine Symphony). It was still cheaper than buying the imported version over here.

I've just noticed the recommended version is highlighted on the Presto website, with this review from the Gramophone Giude 2010:

“The Alpensinfonie is no longer a rarity on disc, but there are still grounds for preferring the famous Karajan version to subsequent digital rivals, especially in this successful remastering. Karajan's sureness of line is always impressive in Strauss and, while the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra isn't at its immaculate best, some playing is magnificent here.
The sound remains rather fierce, but several passages have been substantially remixed, and the effect is certainly less constricted overall.
Perhaps it doesn't matter that the horn theme that floats in with the (still blinding) 'Sonnenaufgang' isn't quite aligned with the strings.
More worrying is the subtle transformation of the opening phrase of 'Der Ansteig': whereas we used to experience it 'from the bottom up' with the balance favouring the basses, we hear more cellos now – and most of them fluff the B flat! That said, the breadth and majesty of Karajan's conception is indisputable.”

[Estelle]

E.A., I have noticed in the past that U.K. CD prices seem unfair when compared to U.S. prices. Our ArkivMusic prices run a little higher than our Amazon, but I often use them because I love their indexing system. Yesterday I ordered a copy of the HvK Alpine Symphony but went with Amazon. My Amazon Marketplace new copy from a U.S. seller cost me $8.86 with $2.98 for shipping. I have never investigated whether these marketplace vendors ship to the U.K. and Europe, but I'd imagine a market is there, with your local prices often running higher than ours.

[Daring Tripod]

I was rummaging around my 800 plus LP collection stacked under my long computer-and-everything-else desk and was delighted to find the Haitink Concertgebouw version with all my other Concertgebouw recordings! I cannot wait to 'spin it' - the first time I have played an LP for a very long time to see how it stands up to his LSO version or the recommended HvK version.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Talking of LP versions, I dug out the LP of the 1967 RPO/Kempe version, just to admire the cover and perhaps tinker with my avatar. But I must give it a spin, even though I have the CD.

[visualnickmos]

I don't recall any mention of Bohm's 1958 (mono) recording with the Berlin Phil on a DG box set of Bohm 'doing' R Strauss. I'm listening to it at this moment - it is rather good - and surely still available...?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

For some years in the 1960s the DG Bohm recording was the only one available. Foolishly, I discarded it when the RPO Kempe was issued

[Pianorak]

I had never heard Eine Alpensinfonie. However, I enjoyed listening to Marin Alsop's interpretation http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=15937551 (posted by makropulos) and thought her "Thunderstorm" section much more impressive than that of HvK, even if M.A. thinks that the barometer is rising ahead of an approaching thunderstorm.

[DracoM]

Just listening to the Naxos version. It's pretty terrific, and for a bargain version, stunning. Some of tghe brass playing is totally top class. If you've been a skier all your life as I have, the visions conjured are truly evocative.

[makropulos]

I don't recall any mention of Bohm's 1958 (mono) recording with the Berlin Phil on a DG box set of Bohm 'doing' R Strauss. I'm listening to it at this moment - it is rather good - and surely still available...?

I think that performance is with the Staatskapelle Dresden (like the Heldenleben in the same set) rather than the Berlin PO. I like it very much too. The BAL review mentioned the Berlin Radio SO performance Böhm did earlier in the 1950s, but I don't think there was any mention of the studio one. And yes, according to DG's website it is still available both on CD and as a download.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When the DG/Bohm was issued on the mid-price Heliodor label, it was supposedly in "electronic stereo", but some claimed that it was in fact in genuine stereo. ?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yesterday, I received the Concertgebouw/Haitink recording from the USA. It is indeed a very fine performance and it is regrettable that it isn't generally available.

[BBMmk2]

How many is that now EA?

That Naxos recording does sound rather tempting!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

How many is that now EA?

14 (I think), but I still have more of Elgar's Enigma Variations.

[Daring Tripod]

Yes, I also have had a chance to play that Haitink, Concertgebouw, LP now and it certainly is a very good performance. Definitely worth a reissue.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Yes, I also have had a chance to play that Haitink, Concertgebouw, LP now and it certainly is a very good performance. Definitely worth a reissue.

A reissue of the Haitink Concertgebouw account is due later this month from Newton Classics

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//8802054.htm