Strauss - Ein Heldenleben
Strauss - Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Thielemann
DG 474 1922

Release date September 2003

Admirers of Ein Heldenleben have always been rather defensive about it in print - and perhaps it's right that they should be! For instance, Richard Specht, who wrote the foreword to the Eulenburg edition in 1924, wondered "Is it because it is so personal, that this work has been so absurdly misunderstood?" Maybe Specht was referring to possible Nietzscheian allusions in the piece, about which there has been some research done recently. What is beyond dispute is that Heldenleben was widely admired from the start. What has always struck many people is the hilarious discrepancy between the swashbuckling, Siegfried-like hero who crushes his enemies underfoot and the petit-bourgeois, thoroughly hen-pecked man whose self-portrait Ein Heldenleben is. Despite its absurdities, it has survived through the memorability of its themes, the strength of its form and the iron-clad splendour of its orchestration. For all that, recordings have been comparatively scarce in recent years; the generations of conductors following that of Böhm, Karajan and Jochum have had other priorities. Christian Thielemann has been promoted by DG as a kind of Karajan Mark II, and after an ill-advised foray into Beethoven he has concentrated on late-romantic German repertoire. In 2000 DG issued a superb recording of the Alpine Symphony with Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic, which revealed the young German conductor to be a Straussian of rare gifts. The same virtues that distinguished the Alpine Symphony are on display here; the technical address - the playing has extraordinary polish - rubato that never feels imposed on the music, instrumental solos of the greatest character - you can tell that this is an orchestra that spends most of its time in the opera house - and much else. Some may find that Thielemann rather indulges himself in the latter stages of the work- this performance lasts a little over 47 minutes, which is a good four or five minutes slower than any of my selected comparisons - but I think that Thielemann justifies his unhurried stroll through The Hero's Works of Peace. As a makeweight, Thielemann offers the Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten, dished up by Strauss to make some much-needed money after the war. Unlike the so-called Rosenkavalier Suite, it is actually by Strauss, but even so there is not much to be said in its favour. Unless you know the opera, it makes little sense as a structure, being a collection of disparate themes loosely strung together. The rendition of Mir anvertraut with Barak's part transcribed for trombone is not one of Strauss's happier ideas, magnificently though it is played by the VPO trombonist. Never mind - Heldenleben's the thing, and this is the best version that we've had since Karajan's 1980s recording.

Sandy Matheson