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Cover: Richard Strauss – Eine Alpensinfonie · Vier Lieder, Op. 27

Richard Strauss

Eine Alpensinfonie

Vier Lieder, Op. 27

Louise Alder, soprano
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Nicholas Collon

ODE 1479-2 · CD · November 2025

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Track listing

26 tracks · 64:11

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Richard Strauss

  1. Vier Lieder, Op. 27 13:31
  2. 1 Ruhe, meine Seele! (Rest, my Soul!) 3:56
  3. 2 Cäcilie (Cecily) 2:15
  4. 3 Heimliche Aufforderung (Secret Invitation) 3:16
  5. 4 Morgen! (Tomorrow!) (violin solo: Yoonshin Song) 4:04
  6. Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64 50:40
  7. 5 Nacht (Night) 3:07
  8. 6 Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise) 1:30
  9. 7 Der Anstieg (The Ascent) 2:20
  10. 8 Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Forest) 4:57
  11. 9 Wanderung neben dem Bache (Wandering by the Stream) 0:46
  12. 10 Am Wasserfall (By the Waterfall) 0:14
  13. 11 Erscheinung (Apparition) 0:47
  14. 12 Auf blumigen Wiesen (On Flowering Meadows) 0:57
  15. 13 Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture) 2:22
  16. 14 Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Through Thickets and Undergrowth on the Wrong Path) 1:31
  17. 15 Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier) 1:17
  18. 16 Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous Moments) 1:34
  19. 17 Auf dem Gipfel (On the Summit) 4:52
  20. 18 Vision (Vision) 3:43
  21. 19 Nebel steigen auf (The Mist Lifts) 0:18
  22. 20 Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The Sun Gradually Becomes Obscured) 0:49
  23. 21 Elegie (Elegy) 2:01
  24. 22 Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm Before the Storm) 2:47
  25. 23 Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and Tempest, Descent) 3:48
  26. 24 Sonnenuntergang (Sunset) 2:29
  27. 25 Ausklang (Conclusion) 6:23
  28. 26 Nacht (Night) 2:08

About this recording

Series of award-winning recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon continue with a new album of orchestral works by Richard Strauss (1864–1949). This release includes Strauss’ longest and final major orchestral work, the Alpine Symphony together with Four Songs, Op. 27 sung by soprano Louise Alder, one of the most in demand singers today.

Recalling a mountain trek from his childhood, Strauss completed An Alpine Symphony, Opus 64, the longest and grandest of his orchestral works, in February 1915. Strauss wrote his orchestral work following a fruitful period that had produced several operas, including Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier. Although Strauss gave the title “symphony” to his Alpine-inspired work, its pictorial and narrative characteristics, episodic form and thematic metamorphosis all suggest an affinity with the tone-poem genre. The work is sub-divided into twenty-two sections, some very brief and all clearly marked in the score. Its orchestration requires at least 125 players, the largest ensemble in Strauss’s entire output. Unusual instruments include heckelphone, Wagner tubas, organ, cow-bells, wind machine, thunder machine and a battalion of off-stage horns, trumpets and trombones. As Strauss was sketching the work in May 1911, he heard of Mahler’s death, a major loss to the musical world but also one which affected him personally. They had known each other for twenty-four years. Although the two composers’ aesthetics differed in significant ways Strauss did conduct several of Mahler’s symphonies and was influenced by him.

Strauss composed more than 200 songs, many with his wife’s soprano voice in mind. His four songs Opus 27 are particularly intimate: Strauss presented them to his wife Pauline de Ahna as a wedding gift upon their marriage in September 1894. From these songs, Strauss composed Cäcilie in the evening of 9th September, the day before his marriage to Pauline. These four songs on love are lavishly orchestrated and Strauss returned to orchestrate these songs still half a century later, in the 1940s.

One of the most in demand artists today, British soprano Louise Alder has firmly established herself as “an instinctive singing-actress” (The Arts Desk) and “a terrific talent, combining a big, lustrous voice with flawless intonation and keen intelligence” (The Times). A hugely versatile artist she is equally at home in the world’s most important opera, concert and recital venues such as Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Carnegie Hall and the Wigmore Hall, where she held a widely acclaimed artistic residency in 2024. Alder is set to make a thrilling debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the highly anticipated 2025–26 season. A hugely acclaimed recitalist her appearances include the BBC Proms, the Musikverein in Graz, Madrid’s Fundación Juan March and the Fundación Privada Victoria de los Ángeles in Barcelona, Snape Maltings, and the Oxford International Song Festival. A former member of the ensemble of Oper Frankfurt, Alder studied at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School where she was the inaugural Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar. She is the winner of the Young Singer Award at the 2017 International Opera Awards; the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition; the 2015 inaugural Young British Soloists’ Competition; and is the recipient of Glyndebourne's 2014 John Christie Award.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle), and its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture. The Radio Orchestra of ten players founded in 1927 grew to symphony orchestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, and as of autumn 2021 Nicholas Collon. In addition to the great Classical-Romantic masterpieces, the latest contemporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of Yle commissions. The FRSO has twice won a Gramophone Award: for its album of Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto in 2006 and of Bartók Violin Concertos in 2018. Other distinctions have included BBC Music Magazine, Académie Charles Cros, MIDEM Classical awards and Grammy nominations in 2020 and 2021. Its album of tone poems and songs by Sibelius won an International Classical Music Award (ICMA) in 2018. In 2023, the orchestra was nominated for Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year award and won a Gramophone Award for their Lotta Wennäkoski album.

British conductor Nicholas Collon is recognized for his elegant conducting style, searching musical intellect and inspirational music-making. He began as Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony in August 2021 – the first non-Finnish conductor ever to hold this post. From 2016–2021 he was Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag (latterly also Artistic Advisor) and was Principal Guest of Gürzenich-Orchester from 2017–2022. He also leads the Aurora Orchestra in their residencies at Kings Place and at the Southbank, where they have reinvented the concert format with their ‘Orchestral Theatre’ Series. Together they appear regularly at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Cologne Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and festivals such as Bremen, Rheingau, Schleswig Holstein, Gstaad, and the BBC Proms where they perform every year in their hugely popular memorized performances.

Features

Sleeve notes in English, German and Finnish. Sung texts with English translation

The artists

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle), and its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture.

Full biography

Nicholas Collon

British conductor Nicholas Collon is recognized for his elegant conducting style, searching musical intellect and inspirational music-making. He is Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony (the first non-Finnish conductor ever to hold this post), Founder and Principal Conductor of the Aurora Orchestra, and was formerly Principal Guest of the Guerzenich Orchester (2017-2022); he will tour Europe with all three orchestras in the 22/23 season. From 2016-2021 he was Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag (latterly also Artistic Advisor).

Full biography

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