Steve Schwartz wrote: >John Smyth asks: > >>Has anyone had a chance to hear "Joseph's Legende," with Sinopoli and the >>Dresden? Besides opinions on the performance, I would also like opinions >>about the recording and audience presence, as it was a live recording. > >Not with Sinopoli. I have the Kempe recording. Kempe's is excerpts only, a composer-authorized set of "Symphonic Fragments". I acquired relatively inexpensively the complete work on MHS 514788K, a performance by the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Hiroshi Wakasugi. It's a somewhat pallid performance; the work is not a masterpiece by any means but Kempe's gives a better sense for its possibilities than does this one. Many years back Michael Tilson Thomas conducted excerpts [whether or not the complete set of Fragments I cannot recall] at a BSO concert devoted to the Ballets Russes legacy. The orchestral color and panache were awfully impressive and MTT gave a high-voltage performance. I wonder if anyone would care to confront the historical/political issues that it raises and record the Strauss "Japanische Festmusik"? I have the impression that the only recording of it has been the one conducted by the composer in 1940, reissued on LP and CD. Vladimir Ashkenazy mentioned the piece in an interview about his plans with the Czech Philharmonic, but that was some time ago. Received opinion on this work is not very positive; however even minor Strauss has usually something to commend it, and it reads a lot better in score than its reputation suggests. One could always couple it with the Britten "Sinfonia da Requiem". Joel Lazar Bethesda MD