And still they come: recordings of Eine Alpensinfonie, and they are all very good, too, making the choice for the collector largely a matter of preference for a particular conductor or orchestra. If you have Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic (DG) or Kempe with the Dresden State (EMI—nla), you will probably still be satisfied, even though standards of recording are constantly improving. Mehta's recent Berlin Philharmonic performance for Sony Classical is magnificent, both as an interpretation and a recording, not far short of Haitink's famous Philips version which demonstrated conclusively that this is a symphony and a superb composition, not merely a traveller's guide to a day in the Alps.
Andre Previn previously recorded this work in 1983 with the Philadelphia Orchestra for EMI (nla), but his Vienna performance is superior in every way, not least in the clarity, balance and proportion of the Telarc recording. There's no doubt that Previn and the Vienna Philharmonic bring out the best in each other with Strauss. The playing is marvellous in every department of the orchestra, with the woodwind chorus outstandingly good in its solo episode during ''The descent''. Previn's conducting of the last ten minutes of the work is as fine as any on record, a truly symphonic coda in which the beauty and skill of Strauss's orchestration take the breath away.
''The storm'' is whipped along like a scherzo, but its graphic effects are in no way diminished, such is the virtuosity of the playing. Previn's tempos are quicker than usual in quick sections and slower in the slow episodes, but not in either case to any drastic extent. One senses a tangible rapport between him and the orchestra throughout the symphony which gives this recording a naturalness such as one finds only in a live performance.
I must mention that the disc contains only the symphony, 48 minutes of music. Several other recordings confine themselves to this one work, but Ashkenazy and the Cleveland on Decca add Till Eulenspiegel and both de Waart and the Minnesota Orchestra on Virgin Classics and Mehta with his Berlin forces, add another Strauss item—the Serenade, Op. 7 and the First Horn Concerto respectively. Even so, this Telarc disc is worth every penny for the Alpensinfonie alone.'