Stephen Johnson explores Strauss's tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, discussing how the composer adapted Nietzsche's complex and controversial ideas for the work. Show more

Stephen Johnson explores Strauss's massive Alpine Symphony. Was it an attempt to glorify nature in music, or more a testament to the composer's own ego?

An exploration of the impact of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, which deal with the themes of love and death. From 2009. Show more

Tom Service travels to Switzerland in search of the real Richard Strauss and sheds new light on some of the composer's later music in particular. Show more

Richard Strauss's 1945 Metamorphosen is an ecstatic, elegiac work which ends with a quote from Beethoven's Eroica that mourns the devastation of the Second World War.

With the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Show more

With the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain conducted by Edward Gardner. Show more

With François Leleux (oboe) and the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. Show more

Valery Gergiev conducts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in three popular classics - Ravel's Bolero, Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and Rachmaninov's third piano concerto. Show more

Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop.

Soprano Inger Dam-Jensen performs the autumnal Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss Show more