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As General Director of the Berlin Court Opera and conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, Strauss was, by 1908, Germany's most powerful musician. With his next opera began one of the greatest partnerships between composer and librettist in operatic history, but also one of the most problematic. His second collaboration with the writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal produced Der Rosenkavalier which was a tremendous success when it was premiered in 1911. The next, with Molière's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme as its inspiration, was fraught with difficulty and required several reinventions before it gained the popularity it would eventually achieve. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Mit deinem blauen Augen, Op 56 No 4
Christopher Maltman (baritone)
Roger Vignoles (piano)

Der Rosenkavalier (excerpt)
Marschallin ..... Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano)
Octavian ..... Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo)
Sophie ..... Barbara Hendricks (soprano)
Staatskappelle Dresden
Conductor, Bernard Haitink

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (excerpt)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor, Simon Rattle

Ariadne auf Naxos (excerpt)
Composer ..... Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo)
Zerbinetta ..... Natalie Dessay (soprano)
Prima Donna ..... Deborah Voigt (soprano)
Music Master ..... Albert Dohmen (baritone)
Dancing Master ..... Michael Howard (tenor)
Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli.