Richard Strauss - Liszt - Korngold - Busoni - Schreker

Thank you for choosing our CD.
I would love to share with you a few of my personal thoughts about these glorious works. It is always surprising to me that Korngold’s music isn’t better known internationally. His output was truly extraordinary and I find it consistently capturing my imagination with its beautiful imagery. On this disc, ‘Straussiana’ has such a charm about it and the orchestra performed the score with real joy. The Strauss referred to by Korngold was of course less ‘Richard’ and more ‘Johann’ (the Waltz King), and it’s worth noting here that although the work we’ve chosen by Busoni for this disc is also a waltz, the harmonies are very uncharacteristic and full of surprises. Busoni wrote some very challenging works for orchestra – but also very stimulating. It’s a pity this music is not performed more often. It was the first time for me conducting Schreker’s ‘Ein Tanzspiel’ – and I was surprised at this wonderful music! Each movement has such a clearly defined character – I particularly love the third movement.
A work that is far better known is Liszt’s ‘Mephisto’ Waltz No 1. The appearance of the Mephisto character in this work can be clearly heard and I love the devilish atmosphere – though it remains at the same time a very beautiful score.
When listening to this music, I am reminded of a proverb: “There is no rose without a thorn”. Lastly; we couldn’t produce this disc without including some works by the wonderful Richard Strauss; Salome’s Dance and the Rosenkavalier Suite. Strauss is one of the composers which the OSR is used to performing as the opera orchestra in the theatre in Geneva. Their style is so well suited to this music and I love how they express the story and atmosphere through the notes. Their shimmering sound fits perfectly with this music – it’s incredible to conduct!
We hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it!
All my best wishes,
Kazuki Yamada