Strauss: Four Last Songs / Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra : Deutsche Grammophon

Gundula Janowitz had a very beautiful voice that critics like to describe as "creamy," whatever that means. Strauss had a life-long love affair with the soprano voice. He even married one--not just the voice, the whole woman, of course. His Four Last Songs constitute his dying tribute, and they are probably the most hedonistically gorgeous vocal works in existence. Herbert vo Karajan was a Strauss specialist, as was Janowitz, and together they contrive to perform the songs about as perfectly as they ever have been. The couplings, two orchestral works from the beginning and end of Strauss's career, are quite appropriate: the last of the Four Songs quotes the "Transfiguration" theme from the tone poem. --David Hurwitz - $6.98

Johann Strauss: Waltzes : Decca

- $3.42

Strauss Waltzes : Decca

- $4.06

Johann Strauss II: 19 Waltzes : EMI Classics

Specially priced 2-CD set in space-saving brilliant box with accompanying three-language booklet. Digitally remastered to the highest standards at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios. - $8.09

Strauss: Orchestral Works [Box Set] : EMI Classics

When it comes to the music of Richard Strauss, none of the world's great orchestras has a more distinguished tradition than the Staatskapelle Dresden. As pit orchestra of the Dresden Court Opera, the Staatskapelle was involved in the premieres, between 1901 and 1911, of Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier; later, with Karl Böhm conducting, its players participated in the premiere of Daphne. Most of Strauss's major tone poems have been in the Dresden orchestra's concert repertory since completion.

Back in the 1970s, EMI was able to capitalize on this association when it reunited the Staatskapelle with Rudolf Kempe--a native of Dresden, one of the master conductors of the 20th century, and an absolutely authoritative Straussian--for an integral recording of Strauss's orchestral works and concertos. The cycle was warmly received when it was originally released on LP, and it has become one of the treasures of the CD catalog since EMI reissued it whole, in three volumes, in 1992. With this latest repackaging, the whole impressive enterprise becomes available in one box.

Across the board, Kempe and the Dresdeners give magnificent readings of the music. Their Zarathustra is imposing and grand; their Heldenleben suitably heroic and quite smashingly played; their Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan delightfully brisk, characterful, and exultant (the latter is dispatched in a blazing 16:06, and receives as ardent and exhilarating a reading as you are ever likely to encounter on disc). One of the finest of all the offerings is the account of Eine Alpensinfonie, a Kempe favorite and still a sonic knockout after nearly three decades.

The less familiar orchestral works are here, as well, including the early tone poems Aus Italien and Macbeth and the admittedly rather frothy ballet scores Josephslegende and Schlagobers. Of special value are the accounts of all Strauss's concerted works, from the early Violin Concerto (played by Ulf Hoelscher) and Burleske for piano and orchestra (with Malcolm Frager as soloist), through Don Quixote (featuring Paul Tortelier in magisterial form) and the two horn concertos, to the Oboe Concerto of 1946 and the final Duett-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon.

It's hard to imagine any label tackling such a project in today's bottom-line environment, or coming up with such definitive readings from today's performers. All the more reason to celebrate the appearance of this compendium. --Ted Libbey - $38.80

The Strauss Family: Waltzes, Polkas & Overtures - Willi Boskovsky/Johann Strauss Orchestra of Vienna (6 CD's) : EMI Classics

- $27.71

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan / Karajan : Deutsche Grammophon

Herbert von Karajan was a Strauss specialist, and if ever composer and conductor were united in musical philosophy, then these two were. Both favored making a beautiful, creamy, homogenized sound over just about all else, and von Karajan clearly relished the opportunities this music offered for playing that combined both tonal opulence and virtuosity. His Zarathustra (a.k.a. 2001: A Space Odyssey) is, along with Fritz Reiner's, probably among the two or three best performances preserved on disc, and von Karajan is nearly flawless on the other works as well. More good news: DG has given him warm, rich sound that's much better than their Berlin average. An essential Strauss collection. --David Hurwitz - $6.75

Strauss: The Best of Vienna : Deutsche Grammophon

- $9.55

Strauss: Waltzes, Polkas & Marches [Box Set] : Decca

Boskovsky's encyclopedic collection with the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded between 1957 and 1976, is as close to definitive as one is likely to get. There was a special camaraderie between Boskovsky and the Philharmonic--he was a member of the orchestra's violin section for 37 years and conducted their New Year's Day concerts from 1955 until 1979. There was also a special empathy that these performers, as custodians of a tradition going back to its origins, felt for the music of the Strauss family. It comes across quite wonderfully on these mid-price CDs, which have been painstakingly remastered for an edition every collector should have. --Ted Libbey - $27.25

Greatest Hits-Strauss : Sony

- $4.72