R. Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie: Auf der Alm

Featuring

Edward Gardner
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Richard Strauss

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded live at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London, with "Metamorphosen" recorded on January 15, 2025, and "An Alpine Symphony" on February 21, 2025.

Compositional Technique

The main theme of Strauss's "Metamorphosen" was originally a sketch titled 'Mourning for Munich' and later transforms into a theme from Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony, with Strauss writing 'In Memoriam!' in the score.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Strauss initially considered naming his "Alpine Symphony" "The Antichrist," reflecting a Nietzschean idea of moral purification through one's own strength and worship of nature.

Historical Context

Strauss composed "Metamorphosen" in 1945 as a response to the devastation of German cities, particularly the bombing of opera houses, which he considered a great catastrophe.

Compositional Technique

In "An Alpine Symphony," Strauss uses a huge, color-enhanced orchestra, including twelve distant hunting horns, prominent harps and celeste for a waterfall effect, and a wind machine and organ for the thunderstorm.

Performer Biography

Edward Gardner, the conductor on this album, has been Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2021 and was previously Music Director of English National Opera.

Composition History

Richard Strauss's "An Alpine Symphony" was partly inspired by a boyhood climbing adventure in the Alps that went wrong, where he and his friends got lost in a terrifying storm.