Don Juan / Death & Transfiguration / Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Honeck played for many years in the Vienna Philharmonic and it's the sound of that orchestra that sprang instantly to mind as Don Juan leapt from my speakers. Specifically, the Karajan/VPO recording made by Decca many years ago. This is the Pittsburgh Symphony of course but by any yardstick this is playing of the very highest order. It's the gorgeous Strauss sound that is so splendid on this disc, caught well by Reference Recording's excellent "subcontractors". In fact I would go so far as to say this is one of the most naturally balanced orchestral recordings I possess and would rank the soundstage and the overall impression as highly as the Arnold Cornish Dances with the composer conducting the LPO orginally issued on Lyrita. So much for the superb engineering. (it's better than Exton's at Heinz Hall but that's pretty good too)Honeck wrote the program notes and they are of considerable interest. He mentions a couple of places where he alters the scoring, the second of these being an octave uplift for the Eb clarinet during Till E's trial. This apparently has served as carte blanche for the Fanfare reviewer to invoke the hallowed name of Leopold Stokowski and to suggest that Strauss's scores need no such tinkering. Well, I have news for same reviewer. At least 5 recordings have exactly the same adjustment and George Szell (or Charles Munch) was certainly no stranger to score adjustment, he just didn't make the mistake of talking about it around reviewers and musicologists...............In other words, worry not about score adjustment. A more interesting scoring addition that Maestro Honeck could have mentioned but didn't comes in the form of a boom from the bass drum during the death throes in Tod and Verklarung. You sure do hear it. There's no part for bass drum in this piece. Then again, James Levine did the same thing in his excellent recording, though at a slightly different place.The interpretations are wonderful if you like your Strauss in the Karajan mold. This isn't Reiner or Szell or Solti taking Strauss pretty much at his word, letting the music speak for itself and getting on with the job. Here we have a storyteller of a conductor, and let's face it, those are few are far between nowadays. Don Juan is lyrical and heartfelt, the horn entries broader in tempo but sounding absolutely magnificent. The tempo variations had me thinking "Furtwangler." Till is vividly characterized and a lot of fun. The best performance for me and worth twice the price of the disc is Tod and V. Tremendous interpretation most similar to Karajan (DG) in that after the "death" the tam tam is slow, measured, like a Wagnerian funeral march. The transfiguration is like an entry into heaven and the orchestral sound is just unbelievably full - organ-like sonorities abound. It is just gorgeous to the ear, burnished gold. I would venture to suggest this is conducted by a man who believes in heaven and the afterlife. There's an impassioned advocacy that is just irresistable.I have been listening to these Strauss pieces for 40+ years, on record and in concert. I never thought I'd enjoy a new recording of them as much as I did here. This disc brings a very broad smile of delight......................

[...]"Audiophiles need no reminder of the many wonderful Reference Recordings, but this release is offered, quite aptly, on their new fresh! series. The recording team from SoundMirror offers us a new view of the Pittsburgh Symphony in their hall, one familiar from recordings by Command Classics, Everest, Telarc, and Exton. From the first note, one hears an immediate and direct instrumental sound, with instruments on a wide, deep soundstage that begins at the speaker plane and extends deeply. The ambience is enveloping, but less lush than what RR's Prof. Keith O. Johnson offered in his first multichannel releases. I find this startlingly close to a real concert experience, where the hall acoustics have a more subtle influence and don't intrude on the main event. The dynamics are as impressive. The low end, especially of the double basses, is as granitic as organ-pedal tones, and the bass drum, if not quite like Telarc's, has huge impact.The performances are spectacular but not flashy. One hears the brilliance of Strauss's scoring not only in the power of the tuttis but also in the inner details. Don Juan soars and sings. Tod und VerklÑrung swells and writhes. And for all the bumptious wit of Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1894), I hear intimations of the sadness and cynicism of Stravinsky's Pétrouchka (1911). This is a thrilling disc. I look forward to hearing more from this team, and its performers on both sides of the microphones."

For me, this is the CD of the Year! - In fact, I can't remember having been so excited by a new CD, and so unexpected too!Of course these are three of Richard Strauss' greatest war horses, and I couldn't even count how many times I have heard them, live and recorded by so many of the greatest conductors and orchestras, but folks, no one has conducted them better than Manfred Honeck does here, or played them any better than his superb Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra does. I generally find Honeck too Kapellmeisterly for my taste, too afraid to really let go. But incredibly, rather than play things safe in the classic German tradition, as I feared he would, Honeck makes these wonderful great scores seem freshly minted and bursting with their thrilling beauty,and they brought a big smile to my face that wouldn't go away.But wait 'til you hear about the sound......extraordinary!Reference Recordings has long been justifiably proud of the its high fidelity releases, but this new Strauss recording produced for them by Soundmirror of Boston (who also produced the legendary RCA "Living Stereo" SACD series some years back) has now set a new standard of sonic excellence that is awe-inspiring and should be the final straw to convert anyone left without an SACD player to run to a store and buy one before it's too late!

I read a review on this and gave it a try first on a well known Swedish steaming channel on my updated stereo (Marantz 1605 amplifier, Focal stereo speakers and Oppo player) not expecting much, after all this is Pittsburgh SO, not BSO, VSO or CSO. Oh boy, was I wrong - and overwhelmed. I have rarely heard a CD with such a great technical recording AND interpretation. It felt like one of those rare moments when in a live concert everything comes together just right to create those truly outstanding musical events - but in my living room, to be repeated. Outstanding brass, excellent strings and bass sections great acoustics. For me the CD of the year, certainly. Highly recommended. And I am waiting still to hear the SACD version...

Registrazione di alto livello da parte della Reference Recording. Orchestra ripresa da una certa distanza, con una bella profondità di scena ed una perfetta ricostruzione dello stage sonoro. Timbri aperti e dettagliati ma non eccessivamente freddi. Potente la gamma bassa, anche se la registrazione è in 5.0, quindi senza l'ausilio del subwoofer. Peccato per sarebbe stata ancora più spettacolare. I canali surround si limitano a riprodurre un po' di ambienza.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 Qualità audio

An excellent performance and recording by any standard. However, do be advised that the conductor has made one or two alterations to the score which don't necessarily improve it (and his quoted reasons are not that convincing). If you want it 'straight' then I'd recommend the Solti / Chicago version, a virtuoso orchestra on top form.

Reference Recordings have done it again! Orchestra and Conductor are as one. They have produced a knockout disc that can challenge the best in the catalogue. Even if you have other versions of this disc, you will not have waisted your money by adding this disc to your collection.

ホーネクは、ピッツバーグ交響楽団と相性が合う性か、向かうところ敵なしの、正に破竹の進撃振りである。このシュトラウスも例外ではない。いや、むしろホーネクとピッツバーグ響の最高の演奏のひとつであろう。冒頭の「ドン・ファン」の自らの主題からとてつもなく膨大なエネルギーを放出し開始される。もうそれだけで聴者は、これからこのCDで繰り広げられる演奏と録音の高いクオリティーを実感することができる。後は彼らの演奏に身を任せゆったりとシュトラウスの音楽の豊穣さを楽しめばよいのである。近年には余り聴かれなくなった熱い勢いのある演奏を大いに評価したい。このCDのレーベルの名「リファレンス・レコーディングズ」通りに、これは、シュトラウス演奏の最初のリファレンスとなることであろう。ホーネクとピッツバーグ響に最大の賛辞を呈したい。