The ascent and descent depicted in Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony can seem like a long slog, but not in the bracing new recording from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Nicholas Collon’s conducting keeps the sound clean and the pace dynamic, capturing the hulking, almost supernatural grandeur of the mountain at the opening and the close, and the detail of the natural world viewed in between; the waterfall music fizzes thanks to the exactitude of the playing. Nothing is overblown or indulgent; instead there’s a straightforwardness, even an innocence about the sound – from the winds in particular – that is inhuman in the right kind of way, with a warmer, soft-edged string tone kept in reserve for the passage giving thanks for a safe homecoming.
Louise Alder is the soloist in Strauss’s four Op 27 songs, which suit her beautifully; her gleaming soprano sound is buoyantly supported by the orchestra and, whether the music is portentous, exuberant or tender, she’s unfailingly communicative with the text. Morgen!, the final song, is initially less magically delicate than it can be – but Alder never lets our attention drop, and when she blanches her tone in the closing phrases the effect is suddenly, beautifully moving.
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