I binged on the orchestral music of Richard Strauss at one point in the mid-1980s and again in the early 1990s, and finally had to walk away from it for a while. What got me going on it then were the two Reiner recordings of Also Sprach Zarathustra. I was blown away by it, and must have acquired every so-called audiophile original and reissue there was back then.
I'd come to him earlier from the operatic angle. We studied Ariadne auf Naxos in school, and to this day, the RCA Rysanek/Peters/Peerce recording with Leinsdorf is magic for me. I spent some time with Der Rosenkavalier and finally came to love it, but it seemed so massive that it took me a while. Later on, my deeper attraction to Elektra and Salome kind of took over. I never got to know any of the others.
I think DR Elmore has said these pieces are too long and overstuffed for his taste, and I totally understand that. Even in those last two "shorter" operas which I find electrifying, there are stretches that seem like there's no end in sight. I think the man has to have written more notes than anybody.
