Aldeburgh Strings & Aldeburgh Winds - R. Strauss: Metamorphosen & Symphony for Wind Instruments (2017) [24/96]

Two super groups - the strings led by violinist Markus Däunert (leader of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra), and the winds led by oboeist Nicholas Daniel (whose distinguished career began with him being named BBC Young Musician of the Year) - combine in this, their second recording for Linn.

A counterpart to the Aldeburgh Strings course, whose recording of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings launched this partnership in 2016, Aldeburgh Winds offered an opportunity for exceptional wind and brass players to work intensively alongside leading international professionals.

Strauss poured out some of his most heartfelt inspiration in Metamorphosen, a 25-minute string masterpiece written as an elegy in the wake of Germany’s destruction in the Second World War.

In complete contrast the Serenade radiates Mozartian bonhomie combined with Strauss’s exquisite chamber scoring which provides a tantalising glimpse of the composer to come.

The Symphony for Wind Instruments (‘FröhlicheWerkstatt’) adds a third clarinet, basset horn and bass clarinet to the Serenade’s line-up and is very important work in the wind ensemble repertory.

The Aldeburgh Strings/Wind ensembles are a product of the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme, founded over forty years ago by Britten and Pears, in order to provide high-level performance training for the world’s best emerging professional musicians.

Tutors are drawn from some of the world’s finest orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Philharmonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and direct the ensemble sections from within, in an inspiring dual role of mentor and performer.

Daniel's feeling for Strauss's longrange ebb and flow is one of the great attractions of this disc…'. –Gramophone July

**** Their sound is lithe and rich…It's a sophisticated performance. –The Guardian

Their shaping of Strauss' Serenade in E flat is glowing in nuance, paving the way for a scintillating representation of the Symphony for Wind Instruments. –The Scotsman

TRACKLIST

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

1. Metamorphosen, TrV. 290 (27:26)
2. Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7 (10:14)
3. Symphony for Wind Instruments 'Frohliche Werkstatt', TrV. 291: I. Allegro con brio (13:15)
4. Symphony for Wind Instruments 'Frohliche Werkstatt', TrV. 291: II. Andantino, sehr gemachlich (5:56)
5. Symphony for Wind Instruments 'Frohliche Werkstatt', TrV. 291: III. Menuett – Etwas lebhaft (4:58)
6. Symphony for Wind Instruments 'Frohliche Werkstatt', TrV. 291: IV. Einleitung (16:18)