Metamorphosen

Metamorphosen

Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings is an anguished hymn of anger and sorrow at the total destruction of Dresden in 1945. It’s been recorded many times over the decades, but here it gains a new clarity, intensity and poignancy thanks to the miraculous playing of the Sinfonia of London and the recording engineers who focus their sound in thrillingly forensic detail. After the Strauss are two lesser-known works, also for string orchestra. Franz Schreker’s shimmering “Intermezzo, Op. 8”, from 1900, preludes Korngold’s Symphonic Serenade, a work of breathtaking richness and confidence that reflects the composer’s time in Hollywood writing film scores. Korngold’s second movement pizzicato has plenty of virtuosic demands, while the “Lento religioso” glances past cinema to the worlds of Mahler and Bruckner.

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