As on LP I would firmly opt for this CD version of the three most popular Strauss symphonic poems, even in preference to the two fine ones listed above. In sound the Concertgebouw recording matches the other two in brilliance, while making the Abbado (DG) sound a little aggressive and constricted by comparison and the Dorati (Decca) lacking a little in atmosphere. It is remarkable how the Philips engineers have conveyed such detail—as in the complex opening of Don Juan, where the timpani for example is just as clear as with Dorati—while keeping the sumptuous Concertgebouw bloom, a point the more telling with the extra clarity of CD. Significantly the order is reversed compared with the other two. The hushed tension of the opening of Tod und Verklarung makes an even more striking impact than the brilliant outburst of Don Juan, not just because of CD and the absence of background but because of the natural weight and gravity of Haitink's reading. As a Straussian he now begins to match Karajan himself in perceptionand authority, and after the recent Arabella at Glyndebourne I cannot help wondering whether his emergence as an opera conductor has had something to do with that development.'