Richard Strauss Gala

This exceptional programme of highlights from Richard Strauss´s works Der Rosenkavalier, Feuersnot,

Salome, Elektra, Die ägyptische Helena, Arabella, Die schweigsame Frau and Daphne was dedicated to Richard

Strauss 150th birthday in Dresden. The reputation as »THE Strauss-Orchestra« of the Staatskapelle

Dresden results from the special relation to Richard Strauss and his works, which started 130 years ago,

performing many world premieres of Richard Strauss´s operas and orchestral works.

The DVD includes the documentary My Strauss with Christian Thielemann, including a lot of archival

footage with Richard Strauss, rehearsals and concert excerpts of Elektra, Rosenkavalier, Frau ohne

Schatten, Heldenleben, Four last songs and more.

Vier letzte Lieder

Dresden and the Staatskapelle Dresden have a special relation to Richard Strauss. Many of his compositions had their world premiere in Dresden and the composer dedicated An Alpine Symphony to the Dresden orchestra. The programme includes Four Last Songs, Ernster Gesang by Wolfgang Rihm and the German premiere of the last completed Strauss song “Mallows” in an orchestral version, arranged specifically for Dresden by Wolfgang Rihm.

Bruckner, Symphony No. 5

Following on from their recording of the Eighth, Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are continuing their internationally acclaimed Bruckner cycle with the Symphony No. 5. For Anton Bruckner, his Fifth Symphony was a glorious confrontation with the music of the past – from a personal, biographical angle, but also as a departure from the composition techniques he preferred up to this point. Not for nothing is this tremendous opus magnum regarded as Bruckner’s “contrapuntal masterpiece”. In this universally lauded performance, Christian Thielemann, already the leading Bruckner interpreter of our times, has once again proven himself to be a “magician of the Bruckner sound”. (Kurier)

Bruckner Symphony No. 8

Bruckner’s Eighth is one of the most powerful works in music and the symphony that Bruckner himself regarded as his “opus summum”. This recording by the acknowledged Bruckner master Christian Thielemann and “his” orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, marks the beginning of a cycle of the Austrian composer’s complete symphonies that is to be produced over the course of several years – a living monument of musical architecture! Thielemann’s Bruckner “is so mighty, and with such a depth of sound … that one would have to be hard-hearted not to be touched by this heartfelt music” (Der Tagesspiegel).

Thielemann conducts Faust

Under the musical direction of their chief conductor designate, Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden performed this special concert to celebrate Franz Liszt and his bicentenary. At its home, the prestigious Semperoper in Dresden, the orchestra presented a Faust-themed concert with two works by Wagner and Liszt inspired by Goethe’s drama. “Fired up by inspiration, the Dresden musicians and their leader offer a superb demonstration of their ability, their precision and their feeling for colour and temperament … A top orchestra and a top conductor have found each other” (Die Welt).

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis was performed on 13 and 14 February at the traditional memorial concert to commemorate the bombardement of Dresden during the last weeks of World War II. Under Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden proved itself exeptionally qualified to master this work´s magnificent challenges. Thielemann “conjured up the gigantic cosmos of the Missa with such lightness and grace that its mystery seemed to reveal itself”, wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No less remarkable was the fabulously homogeneous solo quartet formed of Elina Garanca, Krassimira Stoyanova Michael Schade, Franz-Josef Selig.