A swirling bone that transforms into a communication satellite, the docking with the space station, the Earth in shadow against a sliver of the sun and the appearance of the ‘star child’ all remain indelible images from Stanley Kubrick’s epic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The choice of music – Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna, Johann Strauss’s Blue Danube, Khachaturian’s Gayaneh and, of course, Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra – is a further masterstroke.
An organ pedal note precedes the most imposing sunrise in orchestral music. Trumpets and pounding timpani announce the dawn motif, culminating in a blazing C major climax for full orchestra. After such an introduction where is there left to go?
Richard Strauss considered it his most important work to date – ‘the most perfect in form, the richest in content and the most individual in character’. However, despite its clever scoring, what follows ultimately fails to satisfy the expectations raised by that dawn sequence. This, Richard Strauss’s homage to Nietzsche, is memorable mostly for its opening. But then, what an opening!
The best recordings of Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan
DG 447 4412
Karajan excelled in many composers, but Strauss - along with Sibelius and Bruckner - might be where we find him at his very best. His sense of drama and orchestral cohesion are breathtaking.
Staatskapelle Dresden / Rudolf Kempe
Currently only available as part of a big boxset of all Kempe's Strauss recordings. But still wholly recommendable, as Kempe was a very, very fine Strauss conductor.
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / André Previn
Another pairing of a superb Strauss conductor with one of the very best orchestras. The recording, by Telarc in the Vienna Musikverein, is wonderfully rich and detailed.
