Richard Strauss is regarded as one of the most important symphonists of the late Romantic era, who above all brought the genre of the symphonic poem to perfection through innovative harmony and masterful orchestration. The term itself was coined by Franz Liszt; Strauss, however, preferred the designation “symphonic poem” for his programmatic compositions.

In his program music, Strauss succeeded convincingly in combining the full tonal spectrum of the symphonic orchestra with a narrative structure. Over a period of nearly thirty years, he drew inspiration for his major symphonic poems from myths and legends, basing them on literary works by Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Nietzsche. In accordance with their diverse extra-musical influences, Strauss endowed each work with its own distinctive sound character, allowing them to emerge as independent musical narratives.

“For me, the poetic programme is nothing more than the form-shaping impulse for the expression and purely musical development of my emotions—not, as you believe, merely a musical description of certain events in life.”

Breitkopf & Härtel has recently expanded its orchestral library to include seven of Richard Strauss’s nine symphonic poems, ranging from the very different early works Don Juan and Death and Transfiguration, through the world-famous Also sprach Zarathustra, renowned above all for its opening fanfare, to the monumental An Alpine Symphony, with which Strauss concluded his cycle of symphonic poems in 1915.

The Oboe Concerto as well as the two Horn Concertos complement this selection of major symphonic poems presented by Breitkopf & Härtel in high-quality Urtext editions.

As an undisputed master of sound, Strauss demonstrated in his compositions a profound understanding of the character of individual instruments—he knew how to make orchestral colours speak. His two concertos for horn and orchestra, written at the beginning and at the end of his compositional career, are among the most frequently performed solo concertos for this instrument.

Strauss also composed another popular solo concerto for oboe: an unplanned “wrist exercise,” originating from an encounter with an American soldier and oboist after the Second World War. Flowing melodies full of serenity and echoes of the composer’s life’s work shape this musical retrospective in three movements.