Richard Strauss: Complete Tone Poems

While composers such as Schumann and Brahms adhered to the classical concept of the symphony, it was above all the composers of the New German School around Wagner and Liszt who favoured the symphonic poem as a contemporary means of expression for orchestral music. In symphonic poetry, an attempt is made to represent extra-musical content – such as sagas, stories, myths, and sometimes even literary models – with the means of music: programmatic music in the best sense of the word. Richard Strauss in particular, with his tomboyish self-confidence, believed that this new “formula” would enable him to develop his musical imagination into an unmistakable style. How successful he was in this is shown by the popularity of his tone poems, which continues to this day

The SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg under its principal conductor François-Xavier Roth recorded these orchestral jewels between 2012 and 2016, demonstrating once again how splendidly and at the same time precisely this orchestra can make the musical cosmos of Richard Strauss shine, glow and sparkle.