Strauss - An Alpine Simphony and Don Juan

After the successful release of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben in 2004, Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra presented two familiar symphonic poems by Strauss in 2008, who had such close ties with the then fledgling Concertgebouw Orchestra.

This CD brings together live performances of Don Juan and Eine Alpensinfonie which were recorded during the 2007–8 season and which met with great acclaim both in and outside the Netherlands. Although Don Juan and Eine Alpensinfonie were not dedicated to Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, as Ein Heldenleben was, both works sound here as if they were written for the Amsterdam-based orchestra.

Performers
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Mariss Jansons, chief conductor

Press quotes
‘One word for the Royal Concertgebouw: Superhuman.’
- Los Angeles Times

‘A rich, dramatic Don Juan, built on bitter-sweet woodwind timbres, magnificently bright brasses and uncommonly velvety strings.’
- The New York Times

‘This could , in fact, be described as purest Hollywood ‘film music’ before the concept even existed. But when the work is performed as beautifully as the Concertgebouw Orchestra did under Jansons, one can only yield helplessly to it.’
- Het Parool