Strauss, R: Suite in B flat major, Op. 4

Richard Strauss’s many works for various combinations of wind instruments have been somewhat neglected. This CD includes two early pieces, the Suite and Serenade together with a much later Sonatina. The members of Octophorus (founded in 1984), play on period instruments or copies or modern instruments depending on the repertoire.

Richard Strauss is best known for his large-scale orchestral music, and for operatic and vocal works, but he wrote a large amount of chamber music including works for wind-instrument ensemble.

This outstanding collection of Richard Strauss’ works for wind instruments spans the whole of his creative career. The Serenade in E flat and Suite in B flat, both for thirteen wind instruments, were written in his late teens, and are full of the joy and vigour of youth.

The Serenade is Mozartian in derivation, yet hints at the romantic melodies and the lush Straussian textures to come. The more ambitious Suite is heavily influenced by Brahms, with a tender Romanze, and a finale which ends in a full-bodied fugue.

His three major works for wind instruments were composed after a gap of sixty years. The Sonatina No.1 in F and the Symphony for Wind Instruments in E flat (also called Sonatina No.2) are rich in invention, featuring the melody and texture of his maturity, yet somehow retaining the freshness of his early writing. The delightful Oboe Concerto has a lovely, warm lyrical theme, and a spirited finale.

The classic performances of these works featured here were recorded in the early seventies, and most are given by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, conducted by the distinguished Dutch conductor Edo de Waart. The Oboe Concerto is performed by the celebrated Swiss oboist Heinz Holliger, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra, also under Edo de Waart.

French oboist Francois Leleux presents a stunning recording of works by Richard Strauss, including his oboe concerto, one of the finest written for the instrument, and two chamber works, which he performs with his own ensemble, the Paris Bastille Ensemble.

Joining Leleux on the concerto recording is the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding, one of our greatest young conductors.

The album will be serviced to all classical media, and a promotional video for the album is being delivered to youtube and other relevant portals. Leleux’s previous Sony recordings have garnered fantastic critical acclaim, securing him as one of the greatest oboeists of his generation:

“impeccable technique” BBC Music Magazine

“a performer of …dexterity, charm and expressive power…” The Guardian

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.