Andris Nelsons conducts Richard Strauss

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[Nelsons] knows he can ask anything of his players...Nelsons attacks when necessary with full-throttle precipitation...the shadowlands are even more sustained, highlighting the restless lover's... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2014, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 7th Apr 2014
Catalogue No: C878141
Label: Orfeo
Length: 65 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

July 2014

Editor's Choice

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Strauss, R: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

Work length31:50

$10.00

$13.00

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons

Einleitung

Track length2:04

$1.00

$1.30

Von den Hinterweltlern

Track length3:40

$1.00

$1.30

Von der grossen Sehnsucht

Track length1:42

$1.00

$1.30

Von den Freuden-und Leidenschaften

Track length1:48

$1.00

$1.30

Das Grablied

Track length2:26

$1.00

$1.30

Von der Wissenschaft

Track length3:58

$1.00

$1.30

Der Genesende

Track length4:37

$1.00

$1.30

Das Tanzlied

Track length7:54

$2.00

$2.60

Nachtwandlerlied

Track length3:41

$1.00

$1.30

Strauss, R: Don Juan, Op. 20

Work length18:01

$4.00

$5.15

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons

Strauss, R: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28

Work length15:28

$4.00

$5.15

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons

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Recorded Birmingham Symphony Hall Sept. 2011, Jan. 2012, Jan. 2013.

In this year of Richard Strauss’s 150th birthday, it seems natural that the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons should add the ultimate candle to the birthday cake, as it were, given that their previous recordings of Strauss's works for Orfeo ['Ein Heldenleben' C803091A, 'Alpine Symphony' C833111A) have been amongst the label's most successful of recent years. Here, the CBSO and its music director offer us a selection of the early tone poems: 'Don Juan', 'Till Eulenspiegel' and 'Also sprach Zarathustra'. In 'Don Juan', Strauss combined big tunes and orchestral virtuosity with a dash of immorality and wacky humour. Nelsons and the CBSO delight in the Don’s life of adventure and conquest that comes to a sticky end. The macabre climax to 'Till Eulenspiegel', with the hanging of the protagonist, is preceded by a witty exploration of just about every possible orchestral timbre, with Strauss pulling out all the stops to depict Till’s merry pranks. The world-class CBSO, homogenous across all the sections of the orchestra, is just what’s needed for the great 'Also sprach Zarathustra'. “Freely based on Friedrich Nietzsche” (as Strauss himself wrote), Nelsons and the CBSO do equal justice to Zarathustra’s address to the sun and to the mysterious close in which the motives of Man and Nature alternate in their respective keys. This new recording undoubtedly counts as one of the most awaited highlights of #Strauss150.

Reviews

June 2014

[Nelsons] knows he can ask anything of his players...Nelsons attacks when necessary with full-throttle precipitation...the shadowlands are even more sustained, highlighting the restless lover's death wish...but Nelson's charisma always shines through.

June 2014

The treacherous start of Don Juan is securely handled … the work benefits from Nelsons’s long-term perspective and conviction …The account of Also Sprach Zarathustra has comparible focus and cohesion.

3rd June 2014

This Don Juan fairly bursts out of the starting blocks. The opening pages are hugely vital, the music driven on with impulsive swagger and white-hot energy...[Till Eulenspiegel] should be a riot of colour and incident and that’s just what we get here. Once again the CBSO’s playing is razor-sharp, except where opulence is required and then they deliver that instead.

Andris Nelsons conducts Richard Strauss

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