Richard Strauss: Don Quixote & Till Eulenspiegel

After two memorable recordings devoted to Mahler’s Third and Fifth symphonies, Francois-Xavier Roth continues his exploration of the major works premiered by the Gurzenich Orchestra. In the spotlight this time are two of the young Richard Strauss’s most brilliant achievements: Till Eulenspiegel and Don Quixote. In the latter, a symphonic poem in the guise of a double concerto, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Tabea Zimmermann form a picaresque duo playing the Knight of the Doleful Countenance and his squire Sancho Panza.

Queyras’s subtlety is peerless in Quixote’s melancholy nocturnal vigil…Roth’s Till Eulenspiegel is among the very liveliest…there’s wonderful woodwind character as Till skips alongside the pedants, and the ‘big grimace’ followed by a cheeky f lip into insouciance is as good as any I’ve heard. — BBC Music Magazine, December 2021