Composer: Richard Strauss
Performer: Kyoko Shikata
Orchestra: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avie
Release: 2006
Size: 332 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
01. The Hero
02. The Hero’s Adversaries
03. The Hero’s Companion
04. The Hero’s Deeds In Battle
05. The Hero’s Works Of Peace
06. The Hero’s Retirement From The World And The Fulfillment Of His Life
07. Metamorphosen
This release inaugurated a new association between Avie, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and their Music Director Semyon Bychkov. This studio recording follows over 40 performances of these two seminal Strauss works by Bychkov and the Orchestra, over which time they have developed a definitive collective conviction with which to tell the story of this music. Their London performance of Ein Heldenleben in May 2000 was described by The Guardian as “supremely sumptuous, full of cocksure bravado, cannily sexy … and gloriously played throughout.” In addition, Bychkov and the Orchestra toured the work in Japan, Europe and the United States before committing it to disc.
Recorded January 2001 in the Philharmonie, Cologne (Ein Heldenleben), and February 2001 Studio Stolberger Strasse, Cologne, (Metamorphosen)