R. STRAUSS Don Juan. Till Eulenspiegel. Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes (arr. Kempe). Metamorphosen • Rudolf Kempe, cond; Staatskapelle Dresden • EMI 45831, analog (74:11)

Little needs to be said about these justly acclaimed performances, probably, as they are more than 30 years old, and they have had several appearances on CD already. This is a “Great Recordings of the Century” series release with a new booklet note by Michael Kennedy, and new digital re-mastering. Déjà vu seldom sounded so good. (I hope Kempe’s family is profiting well from these seemingly infinite reincarnations.)

Kempe is one of the conductors least likely to approach Richard Strauss’s music as if it were a “stereo spectacular”—these are thorough, serious readings, well balanced between introversion and extroversion. Nothing is done merely to create an effect, and yet the music’s dramatic and pictorial potential is not shortchanged. Kempe has faith in his listeners. He believes that they can understand what Strauss is trying to say without merely dazzling them or hitting them over the head with it. If Strauss’s music sometimes seems “easy,” that’s not the case in these readings. Furthermore, one can’t find an orchestra that understands Strauss better than the Staatskapelle Dresden. These recordings have the stamp of authenticity.

The most controversial item here is the Metamorphosen. Kempe plays it in 25:14, which makes it the fastest in my collection, I think. Most conductors take at least 27 minutes over it. Blomstedt (Decca) and Zinman (Arte Nova) nearly cross the 29-minute mark. As I get older, I appreciate slower and slower tempos, and there are parts of Kempe’s Metamorphosen that feel a little rushed to me. Nevertheless, I appreciate Kempe’s apparent desire not to let the music suffocate under its own weight. As time went on, Metamorphosen absorbed a fatalistic subtext that no doubt encouraged more funereal readings, but a case can be made for playing it more or less as absolute music, and in that context, Kempe’s flowing tempos don’t seem so fast after all.

The “Great Recordings of the Century” companion to this disc contains Kempe’s Tod und Verklärung, Ein Heldenleben, and the “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salome (EMI 67891), and it is desirable for similar reasons. Fans of Kempe’s Strauss also should explore a worthy CD-R reissue of the conductor’s RCA Victor recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Eine Alpensinfonie (ReDiscovery RD 069, www.rediscovery.us).

FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle