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Richard Strauss was 75 when war was declared in September 1939. The years leading up to his death, a decade later, would be some of the most challenging of his life.
Strauss's son had married into a Jewish family and when persecution of the Jews began in earnest, Strauss and his family were ostracized. Ironically his association with a senior Nazi official helped keep his immediate family safe.
After his last completed opera, Capriccio, Strauss turned away from the stage to write a series of orchestral pieces. During his final years he produced some of his most intensely felt music. Metamorphosen is a profound lament prompted by the destruction of Munich and Dresden, and his Four Last Songs are as much a tribute to his relationship with his wife as they are a farewell to life itself.
Presented by Donald Macleod.

Capriccio - final aria, 'Kein andres, das mir so im Herzen loht'
Countess ..... Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano)
Major-domo ..... Karl Schmitt-Walter (baritone)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor Raphael Sawallisch

Horn Concerto No 2 (final mvt)
David Pyatt (horn)
Britten Sinfonia
Conductor, Nicholas Cleobury

Metamorphosen
Leipzig String Quartet
Hartmut Rohde (viola)
Michael Sanderling (cello)
Christian Ockert (bass)

Beim Schlafengehen (Four Last Songs)
Soile Isokoski (soprano)
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor, Marek Janowski.