A couple nice mid 50's recordings of music by the Waltz King.
Probably many of you would not expect Strauss waltzes by Artur Rodzinski but here it is. Recorded in mono with Beecham's RPO, these charmers sparkle with great tunes, of course, coupled with that Rodzinski ear for detail. Amazing how others just gloss over little things - witness the New Year's concerts from Vienna! Without a doubt, the RPO was the right orchestra to record this fare with since Beecham did not give short shrift to the "lighter" classics but treated them to the care and attention that they deserve. The orchestra was well prepped to dive into Strauss with vim and vigor!
Manuel Rosenthal probably would more likely come to mind for dance music and with good reason since he was one of the more renowned proponents of "dance" music in the 20th century. Rosenthal leads the Paris Opera Orchestra here - in fine form, on a Capitol mono release, in Roger Desormiere's arrangement of Strauss into a ballet known as Le Beau Danube. This arrangement is wonderfully crafted and it's a damn shame that these kind of ballet suites are hardly ever heard anymore. One thing I'll say is that a number of bloggers in the last year have done Rosenthal great justice by resurrecting lps that have otherwise fallen into the great vinyl black hole. This man was a very, very fine conductor and musician as evidenced by recordings that I have been privileged to listen to. Such is the case with Le Beau Danube.
Johann Strauss the younger was a truly talented and gifted composer. These two recordings bear witness to that statement through the superior efforts of Artur Rodzinski and Manuel Rosenthal. Enjoy!
DOWNLOAD RODZINSKI
DOWNLOAD ROSENTHAL
