STRAUSS: DIE FLEDERMAUS - CLEMENS KRAUSS, VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (2 CDS)

Still considered by many to be the finest recording ever made of the jewel in Viennese operetta: ‘Die Fledermaus’ was one of a trio of Strauss-family recordings made by Clemens Krauss for Decca in the early 1950s. Like ‘Der Zigeunerbaron’ (482 7371) and his New Year Concerts (482 7364), it is now reissued by Eloquence, in a new remastering and with fresh editorial retrospectives on the special chemistry between composer, conductor and orchestra.At the time of its premiere in 1885, ‘Die Fledermaus’ attracted censure – and was given a run of only sixteen performances – for singing the praises of champagne while many of the inhabitants of Vienna were starving or on the breadline. Today, however, the piece delights audiences worldwide, above all when it is celebrated in a performance by its native interpreters, the Vienna Philharmonic with Clemens Krauss conducting. Krauss was able to claim that he had been gently rocked and swayed to the sound of this orchestra even before he was born; h