Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan

The LSO plays both works in virtuoso manner. Zarathustra is in many ways the most 'abstract' of the tone-poems and I have elsewhere suggested that it could easily be regarded as Strauss's concerto for orchestra. The writing for divided strings never fails to bewitch ears attuned to this composer and the velvety quality of the playing here is exceptional, as are the solo contributions by clarinet, horn and cor anglais. Not even Karajan (DG) makes the trombones marcatissimo contribution in the Joys and Passions section so startling. The playing and recording of the start of the Science fugue are successful. Some other recent recordings are virtually inaudible at this point unless one turns up the volume to its highest... The Don Juan is a good performance, but tends to indulge the slow music rather as Muti does in his Philips recording... But there are two superb moments in this LSO recording—the marvellous playing of the oboe solo and Tilson Thomas's perfect blending of flutes and strings in the passage immediately after the love scene (track 12, starting at 9'49").

Gramophone