Strauss: An Alpine Symphony (CD review)

Philippe Jordan, Paris National Opera Orchestra. Naive V5233.

It continues to bemuse and annoy me that critics over the years have disparaged Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony as lightweight, picture-postcard music. Yet this is the second recording of the work I've reviewed in the past few months, indicating that at least the public still enjoys the music. And why not: No matter what the critics say about it, it's still immensely entertaining. Strauss worked on it off and on for several decades until premiering it in 1915. Originally, he had intended to compose a traditional four-movement symphony whose theme as he put it, "...represents moral purification through one's own strength, liberation through work, worship of eternal, magnificent nature." Whatever, he came up with an attractive tone poem, the musical depiction of a day's ascent up an alpine mountain, a storm at the top, the climber's contemplation of Nature, and the descent. Philosophy aside, that's more than enough.

The work comprises twenty-two movements, with titles telling the tale, things like "Night," "Sunrise," "The Ascent," "Entry into the Forest," "Wandering by the Brook," "By the Waterfall," "On Flowering Meadows," "An Alpine Pasture," "On the Glacier," "Dangerous Moments," "On the Summit," "Calm Before the Storm," "Thunderstorm," "Sunset," and a return to "Night." Strauss describes each of these events in music, and although there may a few too many climaxes along the way, it is all quite vivid and imposing. After all, Strauss calls for a huge orchestra, some 120 players, and the piece is vast in scope, grandiose, often majestic, and not a little, in part, bombastic.

That's pretty much how maestro Philippe Jordan presents it, with lots of pomp and ceremony. Yet he manages the hushed, quieter junctures well, too, like the night giving way to sunrise, and the entry into the forest.

It seems to me that Jordan rushes some sections just a little, but then in the big moments he slows down and lingers long enough to create a grandly eloquent statement. The time on the glacier, for instance, is indeed perilous, and by the time we reach the summit and the "Vision," circumstances have become most inspiring and uplifting, awesome, in fact.

While Jordan still doesn't quite set the blood to racing the way my favorite conductor and ensemble in this work do, Rudolf Kempe and the Dresden State Orchestra (EMI), Jordan does come close enough to call it almost even. And Jordan draws some exquisitely beautiful playing from his Paris National Opera Orchestra in a performance both sensitive and heroic. Highly enjoyable.

The sound, recorded by Naive in November, 2009, appears fairly closely recorded, yet with some instruments displaying a deep stage depth, the overall result is reasonably natural. The sonics provide a wide frequency range and dynamic response, a sweetly extended high end, an effectively deep bass, and a midrange well balanced with the top and bottom. Clarity emerges above average without being overly bright, forward, or edgy, although there are minor instances of all three conditions present. What's more, the sound is well spread out between and beyond the speakers, a nice expansive quality that adds to the majesty of the music.

With the aforementioned Kempe recording to consider (although in America it's only available at this time in an EMI box set, and as a single disc an EMI-Toshiba remastering from Japan), along with Previn/VPO (Telarc), Haitink/Concertgebouw (Philips), Blomstedt/SFSO (Decca), Thielemann/VPO (DG), and others, there is a wide field of competitors for one's money. Jordan makes another. His is a skillful production all the way around.

JJP