Schubert: "Death and the Maiden" & Dvorak: "American," both scored for string orchestra.(Sound Recording Review)

Charles Rosekrans, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Telarc CD-80610.

I suspect that one's reaction to this disc will depend largely upon one's familiarity with the original string quartet versions of the two pieces included. But the string orchestra transcriptions presented here are certainly accessible and designed for mass public appeal; indeed, by this time you may have already heard them to distraction on your favorite classical radio station.

Franz Schubert wrote his String Quartet in D minor in 1824, partly inspired by the words of a poem by Matthias Claudius about Death tempting a young woman with his soothing words. The work's combination of energy and melancholy have attracted audiences ever since. What we have on this disc, though, is something a little less formidable in an arrangement by Gustav Mahler for quite a few more strings. The result is more romanticized, more idyllic, softer, and lusher. The piece obviously gives up a good deal of intimacy for the bigger, cushier sound, and I must confess I found it lost some of its impact in the translation.

However, the "American" Quartet in F major, written by Antonin Dvorak in 1893, rather benefits by its bigger arrangement, taking on a grander sweep that embellishes the music through its larger forces. Unfortunately, the ...