Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra - Mahler: Totenfeier Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Vladimir Jurowski

• Richard Strauss (1864-1949):
• 1 Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30, TrV 176 32:53
• Gustav Mahler (1860-1911):
• 2 Totenfeier 22:49
• 3 Sinfonisches Präludium (Reconstructed by A. Gürsching) 08:54
• Total Runtime 01:04:36

Info for Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra - Mahler: Totenfeier

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin excel in these new recordings of Richard Strauss’s electrifying Also Sprach Zarathustra and Mahler’s Totenfeier, to coincide with the Russian maestro taking up office as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the orchestra.

Strauss’s bold and passionate tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra is a riveting work, famous for its startlingly atmospheric opening. With a thrilling and florid orchestral score, it’s a work which Jurowski observes “…launches the whole idea of 20th century music. Written in the 19th century, this is one of those pieces which announces the new century to come.”

It is paired with Mahler’s no less gripping Totenfeier which is an early version of the first movement of his Symphony No 2 “Resurrection”. “I find very interesting to compare [the two versions] …”, writes Jurowski, “In many ways, the Totenfeier is less accomplished , but far more honest and genuine.” Juxtaposing the Strauss and Mahler works in this way, Jurowski notes “Zarathustra is all about technical brilliance and accomplishment … in the Mahler the surfaces are much less polished, so there is much more aspiration to go into the depth of things.”

Jurowski is one of today’s most sought-after conductors, widely praised for his adventurousness and incisive musicianship. He has made several critically acclaimed recordings for PENTATONE, including works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. For his recording with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin of Schnittke’s Symphony No 3, BBC Music Magazine opined “Vladimir Jurowski…delivers an absolutely stunning account that vividly captures the work’s drama and emotional intensity.”

The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin is one of the leading orchestras in Berlin. Under former artistic director and chief conductor Marek Janowski, it has made numerous classic recordings with us, including a critically acclaimed cycle of 10 Wagner operas.

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor

The Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (RSB)
dates back to the first hour of music broadcasting by Deutscher Rundfunk in October 1923. The orchestra’s chief conductors (incl. Sergiu Celibidache, Eugen Jochum, Hermann Abendroth, Rolf Kleinert, Heinz Rögner, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Marek Janowski) have all helped to create a body of sound that shares the changing circumstances of 20th century German history in a very special way. Ever since its foundation, the RSB has nutured a close relationship with contemporary music. Important 20th and 21st century composers have come to the orchestra’s lectern in person or performed their own works as soloists: Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky, Kurt Weill, as well as Krzysztof Penderecki, Peter Ruzicka, Heinz Holliger and Jörg Widmann in more recent years.

The RSB is particularly attractive for capable young conductors from the international music scene, with Andris Nelsons, Kristjan Järvi, Yannick Nézet Séguin, Vasily Petrenko, Ludovic Morlot, Jakub Hrůša, Alondra de la Parra and Alain Altinoglu performing in recent years. The orchestra has been performing on important national and international stages for more than 50 years. Alongside regular tours of Taiwan, Korea and Japan, the orchestra also makes guest appearances at European festivals and in German centers of music. As the oldest German radio orchestra, the RSB has won a place in the top tier of European concert orchestras, especially since completing its ten- part concertante Wagner cycle in 2013.

Vladimir Jurowski
One of today’s most sought-after conductors, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory, and the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin. He is Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra, and has also held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000-2003), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005-2009) and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013).

Vladimir Jurowski appears on the podium with many of the world’s leading musical institutions, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Metropolitan Opera New York, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, La Scala Milan, The Bolshoi Theatre and the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Jurowski’s discography includes works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich for PENTATONE and works by Brahms, Mahler, Zemlinsky, Tchaikovsky, Turnage, Anderson and Rachmaninov on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s LPO Live label. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in CD & DVD releases of the operas La Cenerentola, Tristan und Isolde, Betrothal in a Monastery, Ariadne auf Naxos, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, and The Miserly Knight.

Booklet for Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra - Mahler: Totenfeier