Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie & Tod und Verklarung (CD, Br-Klassik)

At the age of 15, the budding composer Richard Strauss (1864 1949) got out of hand on a summer hike on the Heimgarten in the Bavarian Prealps and got caught in a thunderstorm. The next day he fantasized about this experience at the piano. Twenty years later, based on this memory, the concept of describing a day-long ascent of the mountain in a symphonic poem matured. In 1915, another fifteen years later, Strauss was finally able to complete his masterpiece. The hike begins at night, the ascent takes place through the forest, past a stream and waterfall, across meadows and alpine pastures to a glaciated peak. The hiker also gets on the wrong track and in dangers, even has some visionary appearance. Eventually the weather worsens and the descent occurs in thunderstorms and storms. The eventful day summarized in almost sixty minutes of music ends with the sunset and the following night.