Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht – Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

This incredible, atmospheric concert, recorded exclusively for Apple Music and Apple Music Classical in February 2023, sees the Vienna Philharmonic and conductor Christian Thielemann embark on two contrasting but equally revelatory journeys. One takes us through a moonlit forest, the other to the summit of an Alpine mountain (and back down again). Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) was originally scored for string sextet in 1899, but the piece has become even more popular in the composer’s version for string orchestra, premiered in 1924. Tightly structured, but with harmonic textures that seem to glow from the inside, Verklärte Nacht depicts a moonlit walk where a woman confesses to her lover that she is carrying another man’s child. Her lover accepts the child as his own, and their love is transfigured, symbolised by the shimmering moonlight. “The piece is about love, dark secrets, confession and forgiveness,” the Vienna Philharmonic’s percussionist Oliver Madas tells Apple Music Classical. “What I like about it is that you can hear the emotions in the music. It’s a journey to all the different feelings that define us as human beings—you’ll hear my colleagues producing their very famous and beautiful Vienna Philharmonic string sound.” In the second half, the Vienna Philharmonic scales the heights of Richard Strauss’ vivid 1915 symphonic poem, Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony). It’s one of the composer’s most descriptive works, and takes the listener through flowering meadows, past a waterfall and into the face of an almighty storm. It’s a percussionists’ tour de force, too. “In this piece we have all the percussion instruments that Richard Strauss could imagine to use,” laughs Madas. “There’s a very famous part when the thunderstorm comes in. You can imagine us trying to give everything we can to make bring the thunder, lightning and rain to life, before everything calms down for the great epilogue.” A piece like this requires a conductor with superb control over the orchestra—the piece requires around 125 players, including eight French horns (plus 12 off-stage French horns), two harps, organ and so much more. “Christian Thielemann really knows how to merge and shape the energy of every player,” says Madas, “and he makes it a breathtaking musical experience.”