R. Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20, Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24 & Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28

The young Richard Strauss became famous in the 1880s and ’90s with orchestral showpieces that tell stories. He called them “tone poems”, and they remain among his best-loved, most-recorded works. But few recordings match the drama, energy or sonic spectacle of the three “poems” here, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under a Strauss-conductor of distinction, Manfred Honeck, as though their lives depended on it. It’s all there: the tragic intensity of Don Juan, the reflective grandeur of Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), and the sheer mischief of Till Eulenspiegel are all delivered to standards Straussians dream about. The brass have true-American heroic heft and the horns and woodwind, spotlit in this repertoire, are stunning. The sound quality is superb.