Classical Music

Classical Music

Sebastian Weigle and the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra began their series of performances of Richard Strauss' tone poems in 2013 with Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) - they now end the series sumptuously and philosophically with volume No. 6 and the works Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra) and Don Quixote. Born in Berlin, Sebastian Weigle studied French Horn, Piano and Conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. In 1982 he was appointed as Principal Solo-Hornist of the Staatskapelle Berlin. From 1997 to 2002 he acquired a broad repertoire as Staatskapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper. From 2004 to 2009 he worked as General Music Director at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and acceded from the season 2008/09 the same position at Oper Frankfurt. There he made his debut in 2002/03 with Strauss' Salome, followed by the premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten. For the extraordinary success of this production, he was voted Conductor of the Year in 2003 by the critics of the Opernwelt magazine. This award was already given to him three times in Barcelona: in 2005 for his conducting of Parsifal, in 2006 for Die Tote Stadt by Korngold and in 2010 for his conducting of Tristan and Isolde. In 2019 Sebastian Weigle will become principal conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo/Japan.

This album is violinist Arabella Steinbacher’s tribute to the favorite composer of her family household. The music of Richard Strauss has played a crucial role throughout her life. As great Strauss lovers, her parents named her after the main character of Strauss’ opera Arabella, and the family house was filled with Strauss melodies, often sung live by famous singers accompanied by Steinbacher’s father, who was a solo-répétiteur at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The album starts with a piece that Strauss originally conceived for violin and orchestra, the rarely-performed Violin Concerto in D minor, composed when he was still a teenager. Two other early instrumental works – the Romanze (usually performed by cello and orchestra) and Scherzino (an arrangement of an early piano piece) – are also featured on this album. The rest of the repertoire consists of famous Strauss songs (Zueignung, Wiegenlied, Traum durch die Dämmerung, Cäcilie), “sung” on Steinbacher’s violin. The apotheosis of this highly personal programme is Steinbacher’s rendition of “Aber der Richtige…”, the celestial duet from Arabella. Arabella Steinbacher, a multiple award-winner with an extensive PENTATONE discography, is accompanied by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lawrence Foster.

Richard Strauss is considered to be both the last 'Classical' composer and a champion of modernity. His wide-ranging output stands as a monument to one of the most successful and influential composers of the 20th century. His spirited and compact First Horn Concerto was the product of his teenage years, while the Second Horn Concerto came six decades later, echoing the expressively lyrical and dynamic character of it's youthful predecessor. Both of these concertos share the chamber orchestra character of the Four Last Songs in it's arrangement by Eberhard Klokes. The Andante in C major and Alphorn in E flat major, originally composed with piano accompaniment, are heard here in arrangements with chamber orchestra by Lars Opfermann.

Richard Strauss's orchestral music includes several works with autobiographical significance, including Ein Heldenleben (Naxos 8.554417). Scored for large symphony orchestra, the Symphonia domestic depicts the joys and worries of married life with Strauss, his wife, child and other family members deftly portrayed in a variety of situations, including a 'cheerful quarrel' in which the father has the last word! The Symphonic Fragment from the opera Die Liebe der Danae, based on mythic themes, was arranged by one of Strauss's great champions, conductor Clemens Krauss.

This recording invites listeners to stroll through Strauss’ lieder production. Groups of works from various creative periods are loosely combined. The selection based purely on musical criteria and no other design. Oelze and Schneider’s previous album, “Forbidden Songs” featuring exiled Jewish composers, received critical acclaim.

Classical Music

Classical Music

***This is the 100th Release of the BR-KLASSIK Label!***

At the age of just fifteen, the budding composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949) lost his way during a summer hike on the Heimgarten in the Bavarian Alps, and ended up in a thunderstorm. The next day, he fantasized about the experience on the piano. - Twenty years later, that memory had matured into a concept describing a one-day hike in the form of a symphonic poem, and in 1915 – a further fifteen years later – Strauss finally completed his masterpiece. The hike begins in the darkness before dawn, and after sunrise the ascent goes through a forest, past a stream and a waterfall, through meadows and pastures, and up to a glacier. The hiker then loses his way, and after several risky moments arrives at the summit, where he also experiences a vision. The weather then suddenly worsens, and the descent is accompanied by heavy rain and fierce thunderstorms. The eventful day - summarized in just sixty minutes of music - ends with a sunset, and darkness returns. "An Alpine Symphony" is probably Strauss' most famous symphonic poem. Its content is easily understandable, and the work became especially well-known for its gigantic orchestra. The music is far from heavy-handed, however, with many of the passages orchestrated like chamber music. Like a kind of greeting from the Bavarian Alps, as it were, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and its chief conductor Mariss Jansons have placed this masterpiece, and the music of Richard Strauss in general, on the programme of their forthcoming tour of Asia in late 2016. The live recording of “Alpine Symphony” concerts planned for October 2016 in Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig is enhanced on this latest release from BR-KLASSIK by the addition of Strauss’ symphonic poem "Death and Transfiguration", first performed in 1890; the recording here is of concerts performed in Munich in February 2014. – We thus have two very recent interpretations of two of this great German composer’s most important tone poems on one release.

Following it's audio biographies of Mahler, Wagner and Verdi, BR-KLASSIK now presents the fourth in the series: an audio biography of Richard Strauss, to coincide with the Strauss anniversary year of 2014. In operas such as "Elektra" and "Salome", the Munich-born composer made masterly use of established traditions, placing them brilliantly into new contexts and also pointing the way ahead especially where musical theatre was concerned. The three CDs in the edition contain the exciting audio biography (CD1), a selection of letters from Richard Strauss to famous contemporaries such as Hans von B�low, Cosima Wagner, Stefan Zweig and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (CD2), and also a representative selection of works with a special focus on Strauss's work as a composer of tone-poems and operas (CD3). Anette Unger, the author of the audio biography, is already widely known as a Strauss expert; her works include the book "Who was Richard Strauss? - Nineteen Answers". The Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Moest, currently Musical Director of the Vienna State Opera and Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, has been a welcome guest at the helm of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks for the past 25 years. The two live recordings from the Munich Herkulessaal in 2010 and 2013 include the symphonic poem "An Alpine Symphony" (1915) and the four symphonic interludes from the opera "Intermezzo" (1924).

Richard Strauss’ Salome, adapted from the play by Oscar Wilde, first premiered on December 9th, 1905. The opera shocked audiences due to its themes which blend the violent and erotic within a Christian biblical setting. It centers around the death of John the Baptist and is famous for its ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’. Laila Andersson-Palme was born in 1941 and moved to Stockholm in 1960. She was immediately accepted in the solo class at the Royal College of Music and began to perform in small roles at the Opera. After a student concert in 1963 where she sang Violetta’s aria in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House, she was directly engaged on a scholarship. Eventually her voice developed in a dramatic direction. Following a hugely successful career often singing Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, in various roles, in 1985 she was appointed Court singer in 1985 and was elected in 1997as member no. 913 of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Richard Strauss's final creative period (1942-1949) brought into being masterpieces such as the Metamorphosen and the Vier letzte Lieder and, alongside those works, two Sonatinas for winds, in F major and E-flat major.

Conductor and Strauss expert Rudolf Kempe is heard in his element, conducting Strauss with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as filling a gap in his discography with Bartok.

This recording is the first in a new series with Thomas Søndergård and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The programme features music by Richard Strauss: the concert suite from Der Rosenkavalier and Ein Heldenleben, a work they have performed together in concert to critical acclaim. The tone poem tells the epic story of an imaginary hero and offers a stirring introduction to the world of the German Romantics. Strauss demands uncompromising virtuosity from both the orchestra and the horn player who is tasked with portraying the bold hero. Following a concert performance of Ein Heldenleben in March 2018 The Scotsman stated: “From the swaggering confidence of Strauss’s bounding heroic theme to the gleefully grotesque carpings of his critics, Søndergård delivered a bold, utterly committed account – this is clearly music that matters to him.” Closing the recording is the concert suite from Der Rosenkavalier in which Strauss’s colourful and evocative orchestration recalls many favourite moments from his most popular opera.