Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

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20090120091012Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Richard Strauss, hailed in his youthful fame as 'the outstanding living composer'.

He focuses on Strauss' early works, which frame the story of his final days. As the composer wrote on his deathbed, 'dying is just as I composed it in Death and Transfiguration'.

Morgen!, Op 27, No 4

Anne Schwanewilms (soprano)

Halle Orchestra

Mark Elder (conductor)

Halle CDHLL7508 Tr 5

Sonata in E flat for violin and piano, Op 18

Vadim Repin (violin)

Boris Berezovsky (piano)

Erato 8573-85769-2 Trs 1-3

Tod und Verklarung, Op 24

Staatskapelle Dresden

Rudolf Kempe (conductor)

EMI 7243 5 73619 2 7 CD5 Tr 2.

Donald Macleod explores Strauss' final days, framed by recordings of his early works.

20090220091013Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Richard Strauss, examining events in the composer's early career that led him to develop an iron will to reinvent musical forms and push Romanticism to its limits.

Wiegenlied, Op 41, No 1

Renee Fleming (soprano)

Houston Symphony Orchestra

Christoph Eschenbach (conductor)

RCA 09026 68539 2 Tr 7

Helft! Morder!; Elektra! Schwester!; Ob ich nicht hore?; Elektra's Dance; Elektra!/Schweig, und tanze (Elektra)

Aegisth - Fritz Uhl (tenor)

Elektra - Inge Borkh (soprano)

Chrysothemis - Marianne Schech (soprano)

Choir of the Staatskapelle Dresden

Karl Bohm (conductor)

DG 431 737-2 CD2 Trs 13-17

Sonata in F for cello and piano, Op 6

Stephen Isserlis (cello)

Stephen Hough (piano)

RCA 74321 75389 2 Trs 15-17

Der Abend, Op 34, No 1

The Danish National Radio Choir

Stefan Parkman (conductor)

Chandos CHAN 9223 Tr 1.

Donald Macleod examines events in Richard Strauss' early career.

20090320091014Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Richard Strauss, and examines the composer's everyday life, including his favourite pastime - the card game Skat, and a revealing musical portrait of his family life, the Symphonia Domestica.

Stille...O weh, Falke, o weh! (Die Frau ohne Schatten - Act 2)

Der Kaiser - Placido Domingo (tenor)

Vienna Philharmonic

Georg Solti (conductor)

Decca 436 243-2 CD2 Tr 5

An Einsamer Quelle (Stimmungsbilder, Op 9)

Daniel Barenboim (piano)

Teldec 3984-23913-2 Tr 10

Symphonia domestica, Op 53

Scottish National Orchestra

Neeme Jarvi (conductor)

Chandos CHAN 10206 X Trs 1-5.

Donald Macleod on Strauss' everyday life, including his favourite pastime - a card game.

20090420091015Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Richard Strauss.

He focuses on the composer at the time of the First World War, when his music began to show an even more profound sense of irony. His incidental music for Le bourgeois gentilhomme is a typical example, presenting the style and mood of 18th century music in a 20th-century manner.

Ouverture; Schlaft sie? (Ariadne)

Najade - Christiane Hossfeld (soprano)

Dryade - Angela Liebold (mezzo-soprano)

Echo - Eva Kirchner (soprano)

Ariadne - Deborah Voigt (soprano)

Staatskapelle Dresden

Giuseppe Sinopoli (conductor)

DG 471 323-2 CD1 Trs 9-10

Der Pokal; Einerlei; Waldesfahrt; Schlechtes Wetter (Kleine Lieder, Op 69)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)

Gerald Moore (piano)

EMI 7 63995 2 CD6 Trs 4-7

Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Op 60

Berlin Philharmonic

Simon Rattle (conductor)

0EMI 3 39339 2 Trs 7-15.

Donald Macleod focuses on Strauss' music at the time of the First World War.

200905 LAST20091016Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Richard Strauss.

He appraises Strauss' controversial role as the leading German composer of the Nazi era, and introduces what has been called 'the most challenging tonal choral work ever written', his Deutsche Motette.

Zueignung, Op 10, No 1

Christine Brewer (soprano)

Roger Vignoles (piano)

Hyperion CDA67488 Tr 1

Schwung: Gebt mir meinen Becher! Seht, er uberstrahlt; Liebesgeschenke: Ich pfluckte eine kleine Pfirsichblute; Die Allmachtige: Die hochste Macht der Erde sitzt auf keinem Tron; Huldigung: Die Perlen meiner Seele (Gesange des Orients), Op 77

Hyperion CDA67488 Trs 14-18

Horn Concerto No 2 in E flat

Dennis Brain (horn)

Philharmonia Orchestra

Wolfgang Sawallisch (conductor)

EMI 47834 Trs 4-6

Deutsche Mottete, Op 62

The Danish National Radio Choir

Stefan Parkman (conductor)

Chandos CHAN 9223 Tr 3.

Donald Macleod explores Strauss' role as the leading German composer of the Nazi era.

201001188320100405Richard Strauss lived one of the longest lives of any composer. He was born in 1864, when the American Civil War was raging. By the time he died in 1949, two global conflicts had been fought and the world had changed entirely. This week, Donald Macleod explores the music and stories from five distinct years of Strauss's life. We travel in time from the 19 year old Strauss's first forays as a professional composer, to the final works of an old man, exploring his personal and professional relationships as we go.

In today's programme, 1883, the year in which there was a changing of the guard in German music. Richard Wagner died, and Richard Strauss had his first professional success.

Donald Macleod focuses on the changing of the guard in German music in 1883.

201002189420100406Taking five snapshots of Richard Strauss' life, Donald Macleod focuses on 1894.
201003190520100407Donald Macleod focuses on the start of Richard Strauss' work with Hugo von Hofmannstahl.
201004193520100408Donald Macleod explores another significant year in the life of Richard Strauss. 1935 saw the coming into force of Hitler's Nuremberg Laws and the beginning of a nightmare for Europe. Strauss's relations with the Nazis are difficult to unravel. On the one hand, he accepted an official post in Goebbels's cultural ministry - on the other, members of his own family suffered because of their Jewishness. Donald Macleod tells the story.

Donald Macleod focuses on the unravelling of Richard Strauss' relations with the Nazis.

201005 LAST194620100409After the war, Strauss faced de-Nazification - as someone who had held an administrative post in the Nazi administration, he had to face a tribunal, which would make a judgement on the extent of his guilt. The judgement finally came in 1948; while he was waiting, Strauss wrote some of his most popular music.

Donald Macleod focuses on the year 1946, when Richard Strauss faced de-Nazification.

201801A Star In The Ascendant20180226In 1894, aged 30, German composer and conductor Richard Strauss embarked on his most important conducting job to date, at the Munich Opera House. That year he reinforced his standing in the concert hall with another brilliantly colourful tone poem and married his soulmate and muse, Pauline de Ahna. But he was keen to establish himself on the operatic stage, too, and after the poor reception of his first two operas came Salome. It nearly caused a riot amongst the performers and Strauss was accused of sensationalism by his critics, but it was an instant success and immediately in demand from opera houses all over Europe.

Presented by Donald Macleod.

Morgen!, Op 27 No 4

Kiera Duffy (soprano)

Roger Vignoles (piano)

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Manfred Honeck

Wiegenlied, Op 41 No 1

Christine Brewer (soprano)

Salome (excerpts)

Salome - Christine Brewer (soprano)

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Donald Runnicles.

The composer embarks on his most important conducting job to date.

20180220180227As General Director of the Berlin Court Opera and conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, Strauss was, by 1908, Germany's most powerful musician. With his next opera began one of the greatest partnerships between composer and librettist in operatic history, but also one of the most problematic. His second collaboration with the writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal produced Der Rosenkavalier which was a tremendous success when it was premiered in 1911. The next, with Moli耀re's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme as its inspiration, was fraught with difficulty and required several reinventions before it gained the popularity it would eventually achieve. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Mit deinem blauen Augen, Op 56 No 4

Christopher Maltman (baritone)

Roger Vignoles (piano)

Der Rosenkavalier (excerpt)

Marschallin - Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano)

Octavian - Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo)

Sophie - Barbara Hendricks (soprano)

Staatskappelle Dresden

Conductor, Bernard Haitink

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (excerpt)

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor, Simon Rattle

Ariadne auf Naxos (excerpt)

Composer - Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo)

Zerbinetta - Natalie Dessay (soprano)

Prima Donna - Deborah Voigt (soprano)

Music Master - Albert Dohmen (baritone)

Dancing Master - Michael Howard (tenor)

Staatskapelle Dresden

Conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Donald Macleod introduces Strauss's partnership with the librettist Hugo von Hoffmannsthal

201803World War One And Its Aftermath20180228Life carried on pretty much as normal for Strauss during the war. His strenuous conducting schedule continued at the Berlin Court Opera and he undertook punishing conducting tours. He met the soprano Elisabeth Schumann during his travels. Her voice inspired Strauss to write his first songs in 12 years, including three which trace Ophelia's descent into madness. After the war, life at the Berlin Opera House became untenable and he took on the co-directorship of the Vienna Opera, a move not without its own challenges. There, Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten received a lukewarm reception at its premiere. A few years later came his next opera, which featured the composer and his wife as the main characters and a farcical case of mistaken identity in his personal life.

Presented by Donald Macleod.

Amor (Brentano Lieder, Op 68)

Kiera Duffy (soprano)

Roger Vignoles (piano)

Die Frau ohne Schatten (excerpt)

Empress - Julia Varady (soprano)

Nurse - Reinhild Runkel (contralto)

Dyer's Wife - Hildegard Behrens (soprano)

Barak - Jos退 van Dam (baritone)

Vienna State Opera Chorus and Children's Choir

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor, Sir Georg Solti

Ophelia Lieder, Op 67

Christiane Karg (soprano)

Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Four Symphonic Interludes from 'Intermezzo

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Franz Welser-M怀st.

Donald Macleod looks at the effects of the war on Strauss's life.

201804The Third Reich20180301Soon after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he wasted no time in setting up the Reich's Culture Chamber, of which Strauss was invited to take on the role of president of the music section. Strauss believed he could improve the country's musical affairs through his official position but his close association with the Nazi regime would ultimately prove to be both a blessing and a curse. When Strauss wrote an ill-advised letter to his new librettist, the Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, criticising the regime, it was intercepted by the Gestapo and Strauss was ordered to resign from his official position less than two years after taking on the role. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Das B䀀chlein, Op 88 No 1

Diana Damrau

Munich Philharmonic

Conductor, Christian Thielemann

Schlagobers Waltz (excerpt)

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Neeme J䀀rvi

Arabella (excerpt)

Arabella - Jane Eaglen (soprano)

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor, Zubin Mehta

Die G怀ttin im Putzzimmer

Danish National Radio Chamber Choir

Conductor, Stefan Parkman

Daphne (excerpt)

Daphne - Ren退e Fleming (soprano)

Apollo - Johan Botha (tenor)

Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Semyon Bychkov.

Donald Macleod introduces music written by Strauss during the Third Reich.

201805 LASTFinal Decade20180302Richard Strauss was 75 when war was declared in September 1939. The years leading up to his death, a decade later, would be some of the most challenging of his life.

Strauss's son had married into a Jewish family and when persecution of the Jews began in earnest, Strauss and his family were ostracized. Ironically his association with a senior Nazi official helped keep his immediate family safe.

After his last completed opera, Capriccio, Strauss turned away from the stage to write a series of orchestral pieces. During his final years he produced some of his most intensely felt music. Metamorphosen is a profound lament prompted by the destruction of Munich and Dresden, and his Four Last Songs are as much a tribute to his relationship with his wife as they are a farewell to life itself.

Presented by Donald Macleod.

Capriccio - final aria, 'Kein andres, das mir so im Herzen loht

Countess - Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano)

Major-domo - Karl Schmitt-Walter (baritone)

Philharmonia Orchestra

Conductor Raphael Sawallisch

Horn Concerto No 2 (final mvt)

David Pyatt (horn)

Britten Sinfonia

Conductor, Nicholas Cleobury

Leipzig String Quartet

Hartmut Rohde (viola)

Michael Sanderling (cello)

Christian Ockert (bass)

Beim Schlafengehen (Four Last Songs)

Soile Isokoski (soprano)

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Marek Janowski.

Donald Macleod introduces two of Strauss's most profound works.

202101The Making Of A Composer2021030120220321 (R3)Donald Macleod charts Richard Strauss's precocious early years, with music including his First Symphony, which was written in his last year at school.

During Richard Strauss's lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve-tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant sound world of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss's pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

Having written his first compositions aged five, Richard Strauss's raw musical talent was discovered early on. His progress continued at such a rate that by 11 he was conducting an amateur orchestra, and by 18 he'd written something in the region of 150 works.

Oboe Concerto in D

3rd movt: Allegro (excerpt)

Alexei Ogrintchouk (oboe)

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Andris Nelsons, conductor

Festmarsch in E flat major, op 1

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Neeme J䀀rvi, conductor

Horn Concerto no 2 in E flat major AV 132

III: Rondo (Allegro molto)

David Pyatt, horn

Britten Sinfonia

Nicholas Cleobury, conductor

Symphony no 1 in D minor TrV 94

II: Andante

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Kenneth Schermerhorn, conductor

Concerto for violin in D minor

I: Allegro

Thomas Albertus Irnberger

Israel Philharmonic

Martin Sieghart, conductor

Concert Overture in C minor op 80 TrV125

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern

Hermann B䀀umer, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod charts Richard Strauss's precocious early years and his First Symphony.

202102A Public Debut2021030220220322 (R3)Donald Macleod charts Strauss's early years, including his Second Symphony and Burleske, a work for piano that was initially described by its first performer as being unpianistic.

During Richard Strauss's lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve-tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant sound world of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss's pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

In his early 20s, Strauss was appointed assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow, then the music director of the influential Meiningen Court Orchestra. It was to turn into one of the most inspirational periods of his life.

Suite in B flat major Op 4

III: Gavotte. Allegro

Fran瀀ois Leleux, oboe

Ensemble Paris-Bastille

Symphony no 2 in F

I: Allegro ma non troppo

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Neeme J䀀rvi, conductor

Burleske in D minor for piano and orchestra

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Leipzig Gewandhaus

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

8 Gedichte aus 'Letzte Bl䀀tter', Op. 10, TrV 141

No. 3, Die Nacht

Louise Alder, soprano

Joseph Middleton, piano

Aus Italien op 16 (1887)

I: Auf der Campagna

Berlin Philharmonic

Riccardo Muti, conductor

Donald Macleod charts Strauss's early works, including his Second Symphony and Burleske.

202103Practical Improvements2021030320220323 (R3)Donald Macleod explores Richard Strauss's rather fraught early years as third conductor at the Munich Opera, with music including his orchestral tone poem Tod und Verkl䀀rung.

During Richard Strauss's lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve-tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant sound world of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss's pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

Following a hasty departure by his boss, Hans von Bülow, in 1886 Strauss left his position at Meiningen to join Munich Court Opera. The experience proved to be a steep learning curve.

5 piano pieces op 3

IV: Allegro

Glenn Gould, piano

Serenade in E flat op 7 for 13 wind instruments

Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble

Piano Quartet in C minor op 13 TrV 137

IV: Finale Vivace

Michael Stepniak, viola

Mendelssohn Piano Trio

Tod und Verkl䀀rung, Op. 24 TrV 158

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Maris Janssons, director

Morgen! op 27

Jessye Norman, soprano

Leipzig Gewandhaus

Kurt Masur, conductor

Donald Macleod explores Richard Strauss's rather fraught early years at the Munich Opera.

202104The Wagner Disciple2021030420220324 (R3)Donald Macleod considers Richard Strauss's move to the Weimar Court Opera, and the ideas and philosophical discussions that led to Also sprach Zarathustra.

During Richard Strauss's lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve-tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant sound world of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss's pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

After the disappointment of a lukewarm response to his first opera, Strauss was to discover that a promotion to the top position of music director would not be supported by the officials in Weimar.

Overture to Act 2, Guntram (excerpt)

Hungarian State Opera

Eve Queler, conductor

Prelude to Act 1, Guntram

Orchestra of Deutche Oper, Berlin

Christian Thielemann, conductor

Also sprach Zarathustra, op 30 , TrV 136

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

George Solti, conductor

Gesang der Apollopriesterin op 33

Karita Mattila, soprano

Berlin Philharmonic

Claudio Abbado, conductor

Donald Macleod considers Richard Strauss's time in Weimar with Also sprach Zarathustra.

202105 LASTOverwork In A Difficult Business2021030520220325 (R3)Donald Macleod assesses the enormous demands of Richard Strauss's appointment to the Berlin Court Opera, with music including the vast canvas of his tone poem Ein Heldenleben.

During Richard Strauss's lifetime the sound and form of music altered radically. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century and saw the emergence of twelve-tone music and atonality from younger composers like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alban Berg. Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his music came to be regarded as conservative in style, but at the start of his career, Strauss had been seen as something of a modernist, breaking the mould with his series of innovative orchestral tone poems, and with the dissonant sound world of operas such as Salome and Elektra.

This week Donald Macleod follows the young Strauss's pathway leading up to and including the tone poems, seeing how an immersion in music across his formative years influenced his ideas about orchestral writing, as well as opening up opportunities that helped him to establish a professional career as a conductor.

Strauss conducted some 25 operas a season at Berlin, but these pressures did not diminish the scale and vision of his compositional projects.

Ein Heldenleben, op 40

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Rainer Küchl, violin

George Solti, conductor

Freundliche Vision op 48 no 1

Karita Mattila, soprano

Berlin Philharmonic

Claudio Abbado, conductor

Violin Sonata in E flat op 18

II: Improvisation - Andante cantabile

James Ehnes, violin

Andrew Armstrong, piano

Ein Heldenleben op 40 (excerpt)

Des Helden Walstatt

Des Helden Friedenswerke

Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung

Der Abend, op 34

Danish National Radio Choir & Chamber Choir

Copenhagen Boys' Choir

Stefan Parkman, director

Producer: Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod assesses Richard Strauss's appointment to the Berlin Court Opera.