For the first time, I bought this excellent set BEFORE you recommended it! I listened to all 9 CDS as I was driving through Strauss' Bavaria last November and enjoyed every minute of it.😁

This was one of the many EMI boxes I bought I think back in the 90’s, when they were all being sold at discount prices. Outstanding collection!

Thanks for the mini-seminar on European Orchestras. You really teach us HOW to listen-not only WHAT. A lot of us have always been in agreement with you but never knew why.

Agree on every level. Its a superb set with some idiomatic interpretations by Kempe & the Dresdeners (an orchestra who practically carry Strauss's musical DNA) & as you say also one of the few & best examples of a genuine reference "clump"!

An irreplaceable part of my disc collection, I don't know now many times I have worked my way through it. One small note -the recordings were made about a year or so after Karajan's superb Meistersinger, also with Dresden forces -the opera was released I think in 1971, the Kempe 1973 or 1974. I saw him conduct just the once, Bruckner's 8th, and he was without doubt a deeply intelligent musician whose death at the age of 65 was a great loss.

The Capriccio Moonlight Music was apparently never released on LP back in the 70's nor in the early 90's for the set's initial digital version. It finally was in the edition you are speaking of where they utilized the original session tapes. It's a nice bonus for Kempe/Strauss fans. They even got the original recording engineer - Klaus Struben -out of retirement to oversee the transfer from the original studio masters. They were also all recorded in four channel surround for quadraphonic back in the day but they apparently didn't bother that, only going for stereo mixes. A truly great set indeed now made even better. The remaster is an improvement.

Yes it is glorious. Life changing as this was the Eulenspiegel recording I had to study for my high school graduation in music and analyze the themes in the score in front of the professors, a great memory from the 80s.

It was Kempe’s Alpine Symphony with the R.P.O. (RCA) that introduced me to this wonderful work. The same for his recording of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass (Decca). When I was very young I heard him in London with the R.P.O. and interestingly the only work I recall was Strauss’ Don Juan.

5:50. Ein Heldenleben. When you said "this is a cartoon", it really hit me. Yes! Perfect. It's almost as if Carl Stalling had written it. This is Strauss' caricature of himself, though perhaps not intentionally.

A reference suggestion: Britten’s War Requiem, by the man himself of course

9:00. One of the great Eulenspiegels, and not just for the wonderful WWs, but also for the delicious, vibrato laden, opening horn solo from Peter Damm.

I started listening to this set about a month ago based on your recommendation for Kempe in your ideal Strauss Tone Poems video. Holy cow these performances blew me away! I’ve since listened to all the works many times. I love the momentum and the clarity in the orchestral details that I never knew were there before. That Staatskapelle Dresden is one mean machine. So just wanna say thanks for introducing me to Kempe in Strauss, Dave. 👍

I had these on LP. They were imported EMI recordings that featured Nipper.

Dave, I bought this, based on one of your previous videos. What an absolute gem. Thanks.

Agreed! A wonderful set.

Looking forward to hearing the Seven Veils and the Burleske, my Strauss favorites.

I was fortunate enough to acquire LPs of this with Japanese pressings!

I love this series. I'm trying to predict some future reference recordings. If you get to Operas I can think of potential reference recordings for Don Giovanni (the conductors initials are CMG), Lohengrin (RK), Falstaff (HVK), La Traviata (CK).

A brilliant set. Maybe the horn concertos are not the reference choice, but personally I love the characterful vibrato.

He didn’t record the Four Last Songs?

I agree this is a fantastic set. I heard the Dresden Staatskapelle in 1999 in Carnegie Hall (with Sinopoli) and it was a real mixed bag; wonderful deep, dark strings, and dreadfully out-of-tune winds. I assume they're better now.

12:45. Horn Concerti with Peter Damm. My American horn friends cringe at this recording, as he uses a Bb horn and heavy vibrato...typical of E. German style. I love it. I find it very tasty and colorful.

In the 90s, this set was my first exposure to the Staatskapelle Dresden. It was not love at first listen, as it took some getting used to the sound of the brass. Now, I think they're amazing & I look for their recordings when available. I wonder, though, what you think is the reason for the comparative lack of character of the Gewandhaus, the Staatskapelle's Saxon brother. They're like an hour from each other, so it seems they ought to have wound up rather similarly. Was it the dulling influence of Masur? I really like Leipzig, don't get me wrong. But I think Dresden is (or was back in the day) the more enjoyable band.

IN his later years Karajan had the effect of homogenising every section of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra so that the colouration from individual instruments was just lost in a sea of mush. Curiously, at the time people seemed to like that but I never did. When I played professionally I got to know one of the strings players from the BPO at the time and apparently Karajan built this massive body of string sound from the double basses up. The Dresden orchestra has way more character, a bit like the Czech PO of the time and still so. This set of Strauss has long been hailed as a classic reference and I bought it in the early 2000's as a boxed set. Dim the lights, pour a glass of your favorite poison and relax in the sound world of Dresden and Kempe. Just wonderful.

Hi Dave, you mentioned the Reiner Heldenleben being a Reference Recording. Unless I’m blind, I don’t see a video on that one in your Reference Recordings series; any chance you’ll make one at some point? Would love to see it!

Dave, is this the same set that came out on Brilliant?

I’ve loved these recordings for decades now, as many have of course. But an oddity to me, which I can’t check against the original lps (don’t have them anymore), is the REALLY high tuning by the orchestra, if the cds are correct. There have been multiple issues of them on cd (and even SACD) and they all hover nearly around A=450. Everyone has heard the VPO tunes around 444-445, but wow, that’s high! Anyone else notice this?

Quick Question... is this different from the 2013 recording or is it just repackaged?

Is there an individual reference for Don Quixote? My guess would be one of the Karajan versions, with Fournier or Rostropovich, but I honestly don't know. I do prefer this Kempe one though..