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Superlatives should be used sparingly. Nevertheless, there is probably no work in the centuries-old genre of programme music that is easier for listeners to understand than An Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss. Moreover, no composition in the long series of sonorous descriptions of nature, including bird calls, pastoral sounds and storm effects was probably ever scored for as many instruments as this highly eventful hike through the Werdenfelser Land in Bavaria. No orchestra in the world can, with its salaried musicians alone, present this piece the way Strauss ideally envisioned it and as he proposes in the score: the composer calls for some 130 instrumentalists, including at least 12 horn players and, ideally, even more.

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester continue their PENTATONE journey through the heights of German late-Romantic repertoire with a recording of Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie. The Alpine Symphony was inspired by the composer’s experiences during a mountain trail, and is an audience favourite thanks to its picturesque, idyllic charm and powerfully evocative score.

This is volume three in the Doric String Quartet’s ongoing exploration of Haydn’s complete string quartets, already highly praised by major international media and regularly supported by concerts in the world’s greatest venues, from Carnegie and Wigmore halls to the Royal Concertgebouw. The Op. 64 Quartets date from a time of great change for Haydn, compared with the previously recorded Op. 20 and Op. 76. Not only was Haydn preparing for the greatest adventure of his life – what would turn out to be the first of two trips to London – at the time of their composition, in 1790, but they also appeared under a new publisher, Leopold Kozeluch’s firm Magazin de musique. Marked throughout by the virtuosity of the Doric String Quartet, the rhythmic energy as well as the poetic tenderness of the players, this recording showcases a highly characteristic side of Haydn’s music, the inexhaustible versatility and constant unpredictability of the materials.