Four Stars: Interesting and enjoyable performances with a number of distinctive touches.


STRAUSS Don Juan. Ein Heldenleben  Hans Graf, cond; Singapore SO  OUR 8.226934 (63:35) Reviewed from a FLAC download: 44.1 kHz/16-bit
Hans Graf is a conductor with whom I have had relatively little listener contact over the years, mainly recordings of Mozart Piano Concertos and Symphonies. The mark he left there was of a solid, reliable interpreter of no great individuality. But here in late nineteenth-century repertoire, he makes a far more distinctive impression. Perhaps it is the nature of the music, perhaps greater experience, but these are interesting performances, led with imagination.
The Singapore Symphony has in recent years reached a high level of accomplishment. The strings feature consistently attractive tonal qualities, woodwinds exhibit real individuality and brass mostly blend well. All that is perhaps lacking is the last degree of refinement and power of the elite orchestras. However, I found the playing on this disc a consistent source of pleasure.
Graf’s reading of Don Juan features fairly broad tempos that bring out the voluptuous lyricism of the love music (3:00 and following). Transparent balances allow plenty of woodwind detail to register throughout. The brass sound a little backward around 5:00 and the trumpets could be more assertive at 12:00, but these minor blemishes do not really detract from what is a very good performance. There are plenty of individual touches, such as the “chuckling” strings at 11:15 and a nicely tapered fade-out in the coda. The climactic section, from about 15:00 up to the coda, is really exciting, featuring some superb playing by the orchestra.
Ein Heldenleben presents a much tougher challenge, but things go very well here as well. Graf’s feel for supple phrasing is in evidence throughout; he applies rubato to telling effect in the Battle Scene and again in the final section. The Hero’s Adversaries are a nasty lot, cackling away with style. Clarity is key here, even the bassoon parts can be heard clearly. David Coucheron’s violin solo is well played, beginning in a rather straightforward manner, but gaining character as it progresses. In the finale, the agitated section at Track 7, 0:15 is done with real urgency. Complaints? The strings do not really soar at 3:04 of the opening, the horns could be more present in the battle and there are one or two places that come off sounding overly cautious, but perhaps I am merely straining for nits in order to sound “objective.”
The whole enterprise is greatly enhanced by some of the best sound I have yet heard on an orchestral recording, this has to be one of the best recorded Heldenlebens in the catalogue. It may lack the X-Ray clarity of some recent versions, but instead it projects a realistic concert hall perspective, an increasingly rare phenomenon. This performance may not displace the classic recordings of these pieces, Karajan, Honeck, Reiner, Kempe and Ormandy—but these are fine performances in their own right and well worth a listen for Straussians. Recommended. Michael Vaillancourt