Strauss:Alpine Symphony in Images

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding musical and sonic qualities - apt images
Review: In purely musical terms alone this strikes me as a powerful and evocative Alpine Symphony. After having heard it through in its entirety I could not help but go back and listen to a few favorite passages again, despite the late hour. In spite of any misgivings I may have had the Zurich orchestra, as heard here, sounds world-class to me.

The alpine photography of Tobias Melle, which was collected on trips through the mountainous regions of Berchtesgaden (site of Hitler's old "Eagle's Nest" retreat) specifically to complement Strauss's score, is strikingly beautiful and, on the whole, very apt to the music. In a documentary on the DVD he claims to have had Strauss's score with him on his treks to the alps. The only place I found it lacking somewhat is in the "storm" section, where the images chosen just did not match the danger and titanic power conveyed by the music. I suppose it is a bit much to expect Melle to have endangered his life by shooting pictures on a mountain during actual storms, but the pictures he chose for the sequence, while clever and artfully chosen to suggest the power of the music, just didn't quite make it. Still, on the whole, this collection of alpine photos is outstanding in quality, and I didn't find them at all distracting from the music but, as Melle intended, very complementary to it.

An excellent DVD. For me, a real keeper.

Rating:
Summary: A Better View Than If You Were There!
Review: It's appropriate to call Richard Strauss the greatest "impressionist painter" in music. His Alpine Symphony offers a vivid "sound picture" of a hike in the Alps.

What we have here is music lover/photographer Tobias Melle, who has prepared a program of photos of the Berchtesgaden Alps as an accompaniment to the music. An extra on this DVD is an interview with Melle, in which he stressed that the music is not a soundtrack for his photos, but rather it is the photos that were chosen to accompany the music.

Melle also remarks that he has hiked, music score in hand, through nearly all the Bavarian Alps that Strauss himself was likely to have travelled.

So, listen to the music, as you watch the breathtaking photography, and you'll likely see the alps with a sharper eye (and ear) than the tourists who travel thousands of miles to see them.