Reaching the climax of his exploration of Shostakovich’s “war symphonies”, Rafael Payare and the Ulster Orchestra pit Strauss’ epic tone-poem against the colossal “Leningrad” Symphony.
This season, the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC) is turning its eyes towards Bach, whilst at the same time programming the usual great symphonic repertoire, as well as contemporary composers. Here, Kazushi Ono gathered a Bach concerto (transcribed for violin), a rarely-performed work by Schumann and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra.
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.
The Staatsorchester Darmstadt under Will Humburg performed three mightly works for large orchestra to bring its season to a close: Kurtág's Stele, Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Iréne Theorin gives a powerful interpretation of Salome and Elektra's mad scenes in a concert including Also sprach Zarathustra and a contemporary composition.
Jumping in to cover for Valery Gergiev, Susanna Mälkki made a promising debut with the LSO, offering a commendable, if flawed, Also sprach Zarathustra.
Clear playing from Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Emperor Concerto and a sense of the dramatic in Also sprach Zarathustra brought life to old warhorses, while a new concerto from Tansy Davies made waves.
The Leipzig Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly and his Gewandhausorchester demonstrate style and substance in two tone poems by Richard Strauss, with Christian Tetzlaff as the soloist in Mozart's K216 concerto.
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.
The beginning of a concert season given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is always eagerly anticipated – especially when directed by their Principal, award-winning conductor, Kirill Karabits.
So begins the fifth year of Alan Gilbert’s quest to make the New York Philharmonic the very model of a modern symphony orchestra: a concert in which the music director spent the vast majority of this time seated stock still; in which the luckier of the musicians spent most of their hours looking up at a big screen; and in which the audience spent most of their evening entranced by visuals and ju
Featuring works inspired by Shelley, the Kalevala and Nietzsche (with a piano concerto thrown in for good measure), the programme for Prom 64 was certainly wide-ranging. The theme for the concert was the development of the tone poem, with the Bantock, Sibelius and Strauss pinned together by the idea of nature and the supernatural.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra brought their HD Odyssey to a packed Bridgewater Hall, giving an audiovisual feast of John Adams, Richard Strauss and Gustav Holst alongside impressive footage of the Earth and space.The format was quite straightforward, with films playing on a large screen above the stage whilst the orchestra worked their way through the rich sound palettes of the programme.
François-Xavier Roth conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a varied programme of Mozart, Webern and Strauss, concluding with a powerful performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra at St David’s Hall in Cardiff.It was hard to spot a linking factor between the programmed works, but they seemed to complement each other nicely.
A pub quiz question for you, dear reader: with which work did 20th century music begin? The rest is noise, Alex Ross's history of 20th century music, opens with Richard Strauss's 1905 opera Salome, focusing particularly on its final bars. As Princess Salome is crushed under the shields of King Herod's guard, the music turns to what Ross describes as "...a tumult... a howl... a shriek...
“Cinderella” and “ballet” might ordinarily suggest glockenspiel-topped delicacy; not in Prokofiev’s case. His ballet Cinderella, and the selection from it chosen by the RSNO, contains great variety. The Introduction’s darkness hints at the exploitation and neglect which are to be vanquished by love and happiness.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra continued their pairing of Beethoven and Strauss with two works based on different types of heros – the tragic hero of Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and the more Romantic, all-conquering hero of Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra, based on Nietzsche’s book.
The music of Richard Strauss is dramatic, radical and philosophical. It is also a surprisingly good cure for a February cold; its sheer vitality blows away those winter blues.
Alexej Gerassimez als grandios aufwühlender Percussion-Solist im abwechslungsreichen Konzertabend der Nürnberger Staatsphilharmonie unter der Leitung von Roland Böer.
Invité à Genève, l’Orchestre National de Lyon a délivré un concerto de Rachmaninov de haute tenue, sous la direction d'Eliahu Inbal et sous l’inspiration de Nelson Freire.
Obwohl Daniil Trifonov in den vergangenen Jahren häufiger Gast im München war, zu einer Zusammenarbeit mit dem Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks kam es bisher noch nicht. Das sollte sich mit dem vergangenen Freitag ändern.
Cuerda y metal se elevaron por encima del contrapunto reservado a maderas y entablaron una conversación in crescendo, generando también espacios para la fantasía -el engarce con Aimard siempre perfecto-y la tensión dramática.
De Bach à Ligeti en passant par Copland et Strauss, l'Orchestre National de Lyon dialogue superbement avec le grand orgue de Vincent Warnier le temps d'une ravissante soirée aux caractères nuancés.
Mit Dvořák und Strauss gaben Valery Gergiev und die Münchner Philharmoniker dem Münchner Publikum einen Vorgeschmack auf die kommende Saison und gedachten gleichzeitig Lorin Maazel an dessen 85. Geburtstag.
Karneval und Klassik, Klassik und Unterhaltungsmusik – dass diese Elemente nicht in Widerspruch stehen, sondern eine so unterhaltsame wie musikalisch hochkarätige Einheit eingehen können, zeigte Blechschaden, das Blechbläserensemble der Münchner Philharmoniker, anlässlich des Faschingskonzerts im Mozartsaal des Mannheimer Rosengartens.
