Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64, while labeled as a symphony by the composer, is a tone poem which forgoes the traditional form of the multi-movement symphony and is made up of twenty-two continuous portions of music. This is Strauss’s largest scale non-operatic work, calling for 125 performers in all. Strauss was inspired to write this work after he lost his way heading up a mountain in a storm. The work in its entirety was completed in 1915, and dedicated to Count Nicolaus Seebach, director of the Royal Opera in Dresden. Conductor Sebastian Weigle has an impressive list of accomplishments to his name- founding the “Berliner Blaserquintett,” artistic director of the “Kammerchor Berlin,” “Professor of French Horn at the Universitat der Kunste Berlin, and now the General Music Director of the Oper Frankfurt. His previous recordings with the ensemble have gained him critical recognition.