Strauss Macbeth

Neeme Järvi’s multi-volume traversal of Richard Strauss with the Scottish National Orchestra was largely successful, and this effort of the early Macbeth symphonic poem and the rare vocal/orchestral song Notturno was a highlight. The Rosenkavalier Waltz sequences are a bit of lightweight filler in contrast to the darker themes of the other works on offer, but as a program is quite interesting.

This Blu-ray disc features rising star conductor Andris Nelsons leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a program of popular Richard Strauss orchestral works: Till Eulenspiegel, Macbeth and Also Sprach Zarathustra. Andris Nelsons is one of todays most sought-after young conductors, having worked with the worlds most important orchestras including the Berlin, Vienna, New York, Royal Concertgebouw and Philharmonia Orchestras. He is a regular guest at Covent Garden, the MET, Wiener and Deutsche Staatsoper and at Bayreuth.

Marek Janowski, Music Director of the Suisse Romande Orchestra since 2004, has made an excellent recording for Pentatone with that orchestra–a coupling of symphonies of Franck and Chausson. With the Pittsburgh Symphony, he has recorded the four Brahms symphonies: Symphony No. 1, Symphonies 1 and 3, and Symphony No. 4. These Strauss performances were recorded live in Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall October/November 2008, produced and recorded by Job Maarse, who did a fine job.

You will notice the lack of the word "complete" in the title of this boxed set, and not all the included works fit the title. The "Four Last Songs" don't match the title, but personally, I will listen to this set of orchestral Lieder anytime; this is one of Strauss' finest works.And the Op 7 Serenade in E flat for 13 wind instruments is an anomoly. It appears that there is no complete set available, although there have been traversals of Strass' works which have been released in single volumes at a time. You may be able to assemble all issues in such a set, but I doubt they would cover all works, and, as far as I can find, these releases are not recent.