Strauss: Heldenleben

What better orchestral work of radiant late Romanticism for the new Music Director put on the programme of his first subscription concert than «Ein Heldenleben» by Richard Strauss? Fabien Gabel is the right person for the podium, for the Tonkunstler Orchestra and for this quite special mixture of aplomb, tongue-in-cheek irony and not least sensually scintillating, thrilling narrative power – qualities that the Tonkunstler also demonstrate in the explosive works that precede it and that, when revisiting these works with a great soloist and alongside the music of two well-established contemporary composers, are brought to the fore perfectly. HK Gruber’s trumpet concerto «Aerial», as performed by Håkan Hardenberger, is celebrated all over the world, and with «Con moto», Bernd Richard Deutsch virtually provides a musical motto for the new era: We’re moving forward explosively!