Even in today’s more tolerant cultural climate it is unlikely that these over-egged Couperin realizations will ever acquire the renown of, say, Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances. Nevertheless, their appearance in Koch Schwann’s ongoing series of lesser-known Strauss is welcome; the well-established team of Karl Anton Rickenbacher and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra is never less than lucid and idiomatic. The Bambergers may lack the extraordinary brilliance of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in the Divertimento, but then the dazzling clarity of the latter might be thought too much of a good thing. As I commented at the time, ‘there is here what sounds like a conscious effort to recapture the zest and spirit of the pieces de clavecin before Strauss got to them!’
Rudolf Kempe’s classic (analogue) Strauss series finds room for the Tanzsuite and it is interesting to compare and contrast his approach with Rickenbacher’s. As you might expect, Kempe seems the more deeply engaged, only partly a matter of EMI’s more immediate (now in fact rather shrill-sounding) balance. The opening section is more grandiose, the ‘Carillon’ swifter and more playful. On the other hand, Rickenbacher’s softer (blander?) grain is perfectly acceptable, the recorded sound is full and the coupling has logic on its side. Completists need not hesitate.'