Strauss, R: Fugue for Piano, Op. 81

Richard Strauss was supremely a composer for the orchestra, and of opera and songs, but in his earlier years he wrote a large amount of chamber music. The young Strauss was heavily influenced by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, and it was only later that he fell under the spell of Wagner and composed the operas and programme music for which he is best known. This splendid 9-CD set of Richard Strauss’ complete chamber music encompasses a huge range of genres for a variety of instruments. Strauss’ chamber output includes solo works and miniatures, duets, trios and quartets through to concertos, symphonies and melodrama, a once-popular genre that married music with the speaking voice. Early works of note include the mellifluous String Quartet in A Op.2, some of whose themes are modelled on Mozart, and the joyous Serenade in E flat, heard here as a piano solo, already exhibiting the lush textures that were typical of the composer. The Fugue for piano, demonstrates Strauss’ increasing command of intricate counterpoint. Another major work is the Horn Concerto No.1 in E flat Op.11, the first concerto with which Strauss really made his mark, and where his genius is really starting show with its bravura and freedom from traditional formal constraints. With his last major chamber work, the Violin Sonata in E flat, we can almost find the mature Strauss.

35 CD + CD-ROM (including Stephen Jay Taylor's 'Richard Strauss: The Man and his Music')

A superb collection of some of the greatest performances of Richard Strauss’s orchestral, operatic, chamber and vocal works, brought together in a stunning 35-CD edition of fantastic value.

The collection begins with a survey of Strauss’s orchestral music, including the supremely popular symphonic poems - Don Juan, Don Quixote, Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel, Tod und Verklärung, Eine Alpensinfonie and Ein Heldenleben are included, together with comparatively rare orchestral works such as the wonderful Burlesque for piano and orchestra. These recordings, performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden and conducted by Rudolf Kempe, are a particular highlight of this box set, some of the greatest recordings of the classical catalogue.

Of Kempe’s Aus Italien, Gramophone stated:‘The Dresden orchestra play superbly and this version undoubtedly sweeps the board’. Of another release in the series, Gramophone commented: ‘the splendour of the Dresden orchestra is most impressive: at that period and under this conductor they may have had equals in this music but surely no superiors’.

An extensive survey of Strauss’s chamber music, performed by major international instrumentalists including Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano), Erno Sebestyen (violin), Wenn-Sinn Yang (cello) and the Sinnoffer Quartet.

Includes definitive performances of Strauss’s best-loved operas – Der Rosenkavelier, Elektra, Salome, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Ariadne auf Naxos plus the rarely heard Friedenstag.

In particular, Herbert von Karajan’s Der Rosenkavalier remains unsurpassed.‘It really does triumph over them all - even the outstanding 1969 Solti/Decca - and the triumph is, almost entirely, Schwarzkopf's own’, wrote Gramophone.

This comprehensive box set concludes with 3 CDs of Lieder, including the enduringly popular Four Last Songs sung by Charlotte Margiono and a disc of historical recordings accompanied by Richard Strauss on piano.

A truly unique set (the only one on the market!):The Richard Strauss Edition.

Contains a wealth of repertoire: the complete Orchestral Works, the complete Chamber Music, a generous selection of songs, the most famous operas and a disc of rare choral works.

A fitting tribute to one of the most important Late-Romantic composers, who for such a long period reflected his “Zeitgeist” in his fascinating and highly personal music.

A star studded line-up of famous Strauss interpreters: Rudolf Kempe and his Staatskapelle Dresden (a Strauss orchestra par excellence!), Herbert von Karajan, Joseph Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Karl Böhm, and vocalists Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Alessandra Marc, Deborah Voigt, Anne Sofie von Otter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Charlotte Margiono.

Containing a historical recording of songs accompanied by Richard Strauss himself on the piano.

Liner notes included on CD-ROM.