With the excellence of most modern recordings and the virtuosity of most orchestras, it is obvious that almost every recording of a Strauss tone-poem or a Mahler symphony will be good. But there is often little musical character in the performance. Why, one wonders, has this man recorded this piece when he has so little to tell us about it? There is no shortage of fine Heldenleben recordings, several of them outstandingly good and highly praised (by me and others). But one finds that it is to the versions by Beecham, Reiner, Barbirolli, Karajan, Mengelberg and Strauss himself that one returns again and again because of their insights into the work itself, not merely their ability to draw superb sounds from their orchestras.
To these names I have no hesitation in adding that of Gerard Schwarz. His series of Strauss recordings with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra has increasingly won my admiration. This conductor really knows and loves his Strauss unashamedly. He glories in the over-the-top qualities of Ein Heldenleben, and his own pleasure is reflected in the performance. He builds climaxes excitingly, draws out sensuous phrases, relishes the glissandos. Yet it is no self-indulgent, glutinous interpretation. It is fast—the Battle Scene is a real scherzo—and consequently all the more exciting and impassioned. Ilkka Talvi's playing of the long violin solo representing Pauline Strauss is not only technically accomplished but encompasses all the moods so acutely depicted in the score.
Schwarz is given a marvellous recording by Delos (made in Seattle Opera House). The Battle is a knock-out, the harps in the love scene are just right. Similarly, in the best Macbeth on disc, the recording of the remarkable percussion effects (track 1, from 15'00'') at last brings home to listeners what a master of sound the youthful Strauss already was—the work itself sounds even stronger than in Norman Del Mar's excellent ASV performance. I am not quite so enthusiastic about Schwarz's rather heavy-handed treatment of the wind Serenade and prefer Edo de Waart on Virgin.'