Photo: Andy Paradise, BBC Proms
Conductor Jakub Hrůša has become a pop star of Czech classical music. In this episode of Sunday Music, he takes us on a journey through Richard Strauss’s Lieder, spanning nearly seventy years of the composer’s creative life. Hrůša – here not only conducting but also accompanying on piano – works in harmony with soprano Kateřina Kněžíková to guide us from Strauss’s youthful early songs to the deeply reflective ‘Vier letzte Lieder,’ composed near the end of his life.
Recorded live at Prague’s Rudolfinum with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the album ‘Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder & Songs with Piano – Tag und Nacht’ (Supraphon, 2024) captures Strauss’s extraordinary gift for musical intimacy, lyrical beauty, and nuanced emotional expression.
See more here.