The
Cleveland Orchestra has been very late to the new economy of house-label recordings, having established its own label only in 2020. But the label's managers are making up for lost time, picking strong performances from the orchestra and its conductor,
Franz Welser-Moest.
Welser-Moest's tenure in the Forest City has not been an entirely smooth one, but he has ridden out the storms and developed a fine rapport with his winds and brasses. That rapport is on full display in this live concert, recorded in 2021.
Welser-Moest took the unusual but rather inspired decision to put together three early
Richard Strauss tone poems. Really they are the first three, setting aside the symphony-like
Aus Italien and the metaphysical
Death and Transfiguration. In the three works heard here, the massive orchestra of the mature
Strauss takes shape and flowers fully in
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28.
Welser-Moest's brisk tempos serve that work very well in a performance that captures
Strauss' full measure of wit. If one might wish for a bit more languor in the Don's romantic episodes in
Don Juan, Op. 20, the whole performance has a lively sense of narrative that's especially vivid in the comparatively rare
Macbeth, Op. 23 (the earliest of the three works, although its opus number is higher than that of
Don Juan). The program is engaging for anybody, gives a fresh look at the young
Strauss, and speaks well of the orchestra's continuing development. ~ James Manheim
