New Album: Strauss ‘Ein Heldenleben’ and Mahler ‘Rückert-Lieder’

On March 15, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and its Music Director Rafael Payare extend their Pentatone discography with a recording of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, performed by Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva. The pairing of works may seem odd at first, with Strauss at his most exuberant and Mahler at his most introspective. They share, however, a deeply personal and autobiographical approach by two giants of fin-de-siècle music coming to terms with the world they lived in and their place in it. Following their widely-acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (2023), Rafael Payare and the OSM further explore and shine in this late-Romantic repertoire.

For album details, visit the Pentatone website.