Gustavo Dudamel conducts Richard Strauss – With Asmik Grigorian

Led by the charismatic Gustavo Dudamel, the Vienna Philharmonic performs two of the greatest works by Richard Strauss: the majestic An Alpine Symphony and — joined by the crystalline voice of Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian — the haunting, incredibly beautiful Four Last Songs.

Richard Strauss died in Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps, where he spent much of his life, and the 22 episodes that make up the rich tableau of An Alpine Symphony demonstrate his profound appreciation for the mountains. While the music follows the progression of a day on the peaks, from sunrise to sunset and all the way to the summit, the lush orchestration calls for unusual instruments — a wind machine, a heckelphone, and a foot-pumped device called an aerophor that allowed wind instruments to sustain long notes — to capture the scope of Strauss's vision. This evocative journey gives way to another musical declaration of love, the Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), a breathtaking paean to life. From the lithe "Frühling" (Spring) to the serene darkness of "Im Abendrot" (At Sunset), this singular set presents Strauss's equanimity in the face of death while celebrating the beauty of the life that still remained to him, and the life that would continue on after his passing. Grigorian is at her mesmerizing best here, bringing her yearning highs and sonorous lows to one of the last great monuments of German Romanticism in song.