The Alpensinfonie is no longer a rarity on disc, but there are still grounds for preferring the famous Karajan version to subsequent digital rivals, especially in this successful remastering. Karajan's sureness of line is always impressive in Strauss and, while the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra isn't at its immaculate best, some playing is magnificent here.
The sound remains rather fierce, but several passages have been substantially remixed, and the effect is certainly less constricted overall.
Perhaps it doesn't matter that the horn theme that floats in with the (still blinding) 'Sonnenaufgang' isn't quite aligned with the strings.
More worrying is the subtle transformation of the opening phrase of 'Der Ansteig': whereas we used to experience it 'from the bottom up' with the balance favouring the basses, we hear more cellos now – and most of them fluff the B flat! That said, the breadth and majesty of Karajan's conception is indisputable.