Lorin
Maazel
Munich
Philharmonic
Richard Strauss
Also sprach
Zarathustra

LIVE | Sep 15, 2012 7PM [GMT+1] | MUNICH PHILHARMONIC

Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra in season-opening concert in Munich Philharmonic

The internationally acclaimed German orchestra played under the baton of its new principal conductor, Lorin Maazel, who assumed the post of the Munich Philharmonic’s Music Director earlier in September 2012. One of the world’s most prominent modern-day musicians, Maestro Maazel knows how to bring out the unique individuality in each of the orchestras he happens to work with. The pieces chosen for this inauguration concert with the Munchner Philharmoniker are emblematic to his own career.

The tone poem “Also sprach Zarathustra” was inspired by the Persian sage’s discourses from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “A Book for All and None.” Strauss’ opus is the first example of rendering a philosophical treatise in music, but, according to the composer, it is only a loose interpretation thereof. The book is illustrated in the tone poem’s nine parts, each corresponding to a certain chapter of Nietzsche’s work (Backworldsmen, Joys and Passions, The Grave Song, Science, etc.).

Set up more than a hundred years ago, the Munich Philharmonic has since evolved into a top-tier symphony orchestra, with conductors measuring up. Throughout its history, it has been at the center of some of the most significant events on the world’s music scene. Last year, as part of a collaborative project with the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre, the group performed all of Dmitry Shostakovich’s symphonies under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

 

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