羅夫以前和西南德廣播交響樂團錄過一整套理察史特勞斯管弦樂曲集，現在他領導科隆愛樂（以及它的主要合作對象科隆歌劇院），重錄《唐吉軻德》，更有兩名星級獨奏，凱拉斯拉大提琴，T齊默曼拉中提琴。
我先談軌14的《狄爾開玩笑》，羅夫處理管弦音色有條不紊，不是單以音量做出喧鬧效果，而是把各個聲部整整齊齊的羅列，正是各個細節都放好位置，出來的效果就不是一團糟，而是有組織的混沌，我又不禁想起羅夫另一招牌好戲《春之祭》。
羅夫在處理《唐吉訶德》的多個喧鬧段落，例如綿羊大戰（軌四）、飛天（軌九）、決戰白月騎士（軌12）都有類似取態。凱拉斯在稍為緊束的琴音下，拉出很大的感情，既不會感到他只是拉完就算，又不會太將目光集中在自己身上，妨礙故事繼續往前進。守夜（軌七）有如給大提琴的華彩段，凱拉斯能夠在旋律性不強的樂段中，找到一個個表達感情的小句子。終曲（軌13）哀傷感覺足夠，但不會死不斷氣。想聽T齊默曼的中提琴獨奏就要聽主僕對話（軌五），頭半是中提琴獨奏，後半則是全曲最感人、猶如愛情二重唱的慢板，不過我就嫌羅夫未夠大膽榨乾每一滴感情。
碟尾的《大提琴與樂團浪漫曲》（軌15）是史特勞斯19歲作品，當時他甚麼曲式都去試，有少部分是佳作，此曲我覺得不是，但用作安歌也無不可。
Roth once recorded a series of R.Strauss orchestral works with the Baden-Baden SWR Orchestra (now absorbed into another orchestra). He rerecorded Don Quixote with his Gürzenich Orchestra with two star soloists, Queyras on the cello and Tabea Zimmermann on the viola.
I’d like to comment on Till Eulenspiegel (track 14) first. Roth was so organized in his sorting out of orchestral voices and colours. It was precisely because the details were in their right places the climaxes no longer sounded like cacophony, but organized chaos. Once again that brought into mind Roth’s signature piece, the Rite of Spring.
Roth handled the noisier bits of Don Quixote (tracks 1-13) similarly: The Battle with the Sheep (track 4), The Ride Through the Air (track 9) or The Duel with the Knight of White Moon (track 12). I felt Queyras avoided a broad tone but that restricted tone carried lots of emotions. He didn’t just skim over the notes as most orchestral cellists playing this work are prone to, nor did he bring too much attention on himself. In The Knight’s Vigil (track 7) he broke the rather non-melodious solo part into sighs and wails. The finale (track 13) was sad enough but Queyras didn’t keep the mad knight from dying. Zimmermann, as usual, played Sancho Panza as a determined counterpart to his master, as shown in The Dialogue Between Knight and Squire (track 5), in the full-blown orchestral “love” scene that followed, I felt Roth didn’t milk the emotions to the full.
The Romance for Cello and Orchestra (track 15) was written by the 19-year-old Strauss. During that period Strauss tried his hand in almost all genres. A small proportion of those are noteworthy pieces but this one isn’t one of them. Still it’s an appropriate encore piece for Don Quixote.