Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24

Es war ein Abend der Extremen in der Berliner Philharmonie.

Unter der Leitung von Franz Welser Möst frönten die Philharmoniker gleich mehrmals dem Lebensende; unterstützt von Asmik Grigorian und Matthias Goerne.

Der designierte Chefdirigent der Berliner Philharmoniker reißt die Zuhörer mit Strauss und Beethoven schlicht von ihren Sitzen.

Karina Canellakis schafft mit den Bamberger Symphonikern ein extensives Klangfarben-Spektrum und Leidenschaft pur.

Franz Welser-Möst und sein amerikanisches Orchester zeigten mit einem Programm von Strauss und Bartók ihr Können, konnten damit aber nicht vollends überzeugen.

Alexander Shelley conducts a contemplative programme featuring Strauss' Four Last Songs and Death and Transfiguration. 

Canellakis has the musicianship to ensure Strauss’ over-the-top moments registered high on music’s Richter scale.

La Filarmónica trae a Madrid a la SWR Symphonieorchester y al siempre agitador Teodor Currentzis con la Primera de Mahler.

On tour with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mikko Franck and Sol Gabetta present an odd programme of mixed fare.

The Berliners' second concert comprised the core repertoire for which they are famous, Beethoven and Strauss. Under the dynamic baton of their incoming Principal, Kirill Petrenko, these warhorses were made fresh again.

The Gran Teatre del Liceu’s orchestra performs challenging works by Strauss under resident conductor Josep Pons.

Stéphane Denève leads The Philadelphia Orchestra through transcendent Strauss and apocalyptic Ravel.

Stephen Mulligan again steps in to lead the Atlanta Symphony in exemplary performances.

Two contraltos in one room is a high concentration of contraltos; except that one of them appeared in the role of conductor.

A dream programme of works by Strauss, Berg and Sibelius, matched by performances from Sakari Oramo, Alina Pogostkina and the BBC Symphony Orchestra that really hit the sweet spot.

Conductor Riccardo Chailly launched this year's Lucerne Festival with a riveting programme of three late 19th century works by the great orchestral explorer, Richard Strauss.

Reflections on mortality provided by the French contralto Nathalie Stutzmann conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in two works by Richard Strauss and Mozart.

Two works by Brahms and an early tone poem by Strauss only partially succeed in performances by the LSO under Alpesh Chauhan and with Benjamin Grosvenor as soloist.

La Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México nos convocó al concierto Canciones de Wesendonck. Como el título lo revela, esta obra de Wagner fue el número central, y estuvo muy bien enmarcada por el Capricho español de Rimsky-Korsakov y Muerte y transfiguración de Richard Strauss: interesante programa con un cuidado guion dramático que fue de lo festivo a lo contemplativo.

Simbiosis ideal entre un conjunto envidiable y una batuta que, lejos de pasar el trámite de hacerse cargo del programa de un colega de profesión, hizo suya la oportunidad y buscó dejar su sello en las interpretaciones de unas obras clave dentro del repertorio sinfónico.

Difficile de trouver association de plus haut standing que celle des Wiener Philharmoniker, du Chant de la Terre et du ténor allemand Jonas Kaufmann, assumant à lui seul les six parties du chef-d’œuvre. Remplaçant Daniele Gatti, le chef anglais Jonathan Nott a cherché à équivoquer la prud’homie du sérail viennois par un violent serrage de ceinture.

The synergy between Donald Runnicles and the CSO was abundantly clear in a program of two British works and a Strauss tone poem.

In this last concert in the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Riccardo Chailly’s brief residency at the Barbican, all concerned were on top form. 

La venue à la Philharmonie de Paris pour trois concerts de l’Orchestre du Gawandhaus de Leipzig et de son directeur musical, Riccardo Chailly, était un événement très attendu. Comme les deux précédents, ce dernier concert était consacré à Richard Strauss et Mozart. Cette troisième soirée fut tout à fait exceptionnelle.

Pour son premier concert en tant que directeur musical de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, le chef finlandais Mikko frappe fort. Vivement le suite….

Marc Albrecht’s tribute to Richard Strauss featured soprano Emily Magee in a poignantly elusive Four Last Songs and culminated in a stupendously played Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Fine renditions of Brahms's Haydn Variations and Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Till Eulenspiegel more than compensate for an underwhelming rendition of Rihm's Lichtes Spiel in the Concertgebouw's performance at the Berlin Festival.

Leonidas Kavakos's technical mastery and musical sensitivity work beautifully with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to produce shimmering brilliance.

Birthday boy Richard Strauss was celebrated again at the Proms with two early works, one an acknowledged masterpiece and the other a problem child, in an odd programme that included works by Mozart and Nielsen from the BBC NOW.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Christine Brewer close Wagner bicentenary celebrations at the Barbican by showing his influence on Strauss, Webern and Berg on December 20th.

My last encounter with conductor Susanna Mälkki was her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic two and a half years ago. I was impressed with her crisp style of conducting that delivered near-seismic impact in Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Amsterdam audiences must be spoiled by hearing the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra so often. In this second concert of two at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw again used their immaculate sound and tonal palette to lyrical effect, this time not in Bartók and Mahler, but Strauss and Bruckner.

Strauss's Tod und Verklärung is the work of a young man seeking to impress with his profundity and modernity after his early success with the wildly exuberant Don Juan. It is often said that the "death" part is more convincing than the "transfiguration" part, and this is largely true - while the former comes off beautifully, the latter is far too prosaic musically for the exalted subject matter.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's latest tour has included three dates at New York's Carnegie Hall: a concert of Sibelius symphonies, another of late Mozart and truncated Wagner, and this one of waltzes, polkas, and Richard Strauss.The second half, dedicated to the music of Johann Strauss II, predictably came off best.

In this intensely Romantic programme, the choice of music pointed to the ways in which art and life can be closely intertwined, from Wagner's Idyll to celebrate the birth of his son (also called Siegfried), to Joachim's fingerprints in the Brahms concerto or Strauss's tone poem on Death and Transfiguration.