Richard Strauss: Tone Poems, Vol. 2

Featuring

François-Xavier Roth
Johannes Lüthy
Frank-Michael Guthmann
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Richard Strauss

Did you know?

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Cultural Impact

Richard Strauss's witty score for Till Eulenspiegel inspired the legendary dancer Vaclav Nijinsky to create a ballet for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which premiered in 1916.

Composition History

Macbeth was Richard Strauss's first work to fully transition from the symphony to the tone poem, though it was preceded by the symphonic fantasy Aus Italien.

Compositional Technique

In his tone poem Don Quixote, Richard Strauss assigned the knight Don Quixote to a solo cello and his squire Sancho Panza to a solo viola, making the work resemble an instrumental concerto.

Performer Biography

The SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg has premiered approximately 400 compositions at the Donaueschingen Festival, making music history with works by composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Olivier Messiaen.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Richard Strauss, after initially sympathizing with Johannes Brahms, joined the 'New German School' whose leaders were Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.

Critical Reception

The second variation of Don Quixote, depicting a herd of sheep with 'atonally audacious' clusters, met with indignation from some listeners at its 1898 premiere.

Compositional Technique

The 'New German School' favored the tone poem, which conveyed non-musical, often literary, content without prescribed compositional forms, as an alternative to the classical symphony.