Strauss, R: Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64 (An Alpine Symphony) - download (MP3 & FLAC)

“A dramatic case of fire and ice if ever there was one...You might argue that nobility has to some extent been sacrificed to the brazenness of the playing but you cannot deny the fervour of what they bring. I don't know of a more exciting account on disc.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

“The night opening is evocatively veiled, the mountain theme especially, and moves organically to its spiritual sunrise. Throughout there's a natural sense of pace between vigorous clambering and spacious nature panoramas. Shipway moulds his strings to sit every situation...I'd be very happy to hear more Strauss from this remarkable team.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 *****

“The Weimar Staatskapelle… are a top-class orchestra, with superb strings which sound overwhelmingly, sensuously beautiful.” Gramophone Magazine

“This is a magnificent record. The Weimar Staatskapelle are rare visitors to disc, but they are a top-class orchestra, with superb strings which sound overwhelmingly, sensuously beautiful in the opening 'Night' and 'Sunrise' sequences.
The warm and spacious acoustic of the Weimarhalle helps; reminiscent of the Lukaskirche in Dresden, where the Staatskapelle there made their famous analogue Strauss recordings under Kempe. This disc is in that same league of excellence.
Indeed, conductor Antoni Wit must take a lion's share of the credit for the success of this mountain-climb.
His tempi are spacious but his pacing is not consistently slow. It is during the vistas that Wit takes his time to overwhelm us with the beauty of what his orchestra are describing, the 'Entry into the Forest', dallying a little 'On the Alpine Pasture' and, most telling of all, the burst of radiance on reaching the summit. Then on the way down there is a storm, thunderously captured, but in the calm before it breaks, Wit creates an almost sinister atmosphere of apprehension.
As Strauss's descent nears its end and the music winds down, Wit manages a wonderful feeling of triste, a consciousness of danger experienced and triumphed over, and in that 'Ausklang' the organ steals in magically.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is a magnificent record. It is during the vistas that Wit takes his time to overwhelm us with the beauty of what his orchestra are describing… dallying a little 'On the Alpine Pasture' and, most telling of all, the burst of radiance on reaching the summit. As Strauss's descent nears its end and the music winds down, Wit manages a wonderful feeling of triste, a consciousness of danger experienced and triumphed over, and in that 'Ausklang' the organ steals in magically.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006

“there is much to enjoy in Jordan’s account of the symphony with the Orchestre de L’Opéra National de Paris. French orchestras love the big German repertoire, and the detail in Strauss’s plan is audible without being spotlit. Jordan loses momentum at the summit but tapers the rest beautifully.” Financial Times, 19th May 2012 ***

“[Jordan] has a feel for this work which is exceptional...the balance between the main full orchestra and the more distant large additional brass section in the earlier passages is perfect” International Record Review, July/August 2010

“The orchestra seems resplendent in every department...and Bychkov conducts this once-derided music with absolute conviction, devoid of vulgarity, binding the various sections into a compelling symphonic whole...All told, a glorious addition to the Strauss discography.” Sunday Times, 22nd November 2009 ****