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Richard Strauss: Salome

In Strauss’s 150-anniversary year, Donald Runnicles brings his Deutsche Oper forces to the Proms for a concert performance of the composer’s Salome.

In 2020, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 is bringing together musical greats, from the past and the present, in one extraordinary Proms season. Radio 3 is broadcasting the best of four decades of unmissable Proms concerts.

The crushing, five-note dissonance at the grizzly climax of Richard Strauss’s operatic masterpiece – when Salome kisses the severed head of John the Baptist – is one of the most influential moments in 20th-century music. Overnight Strauss redefined the scope of opera, paving the way for modernists such as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, both of whom were present at the 1906 Austrian premiere.

In this concert performance from the 2014 Proms, Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles leads the Deutsche Oper Berlin orchestra and a cast that includes Nina Stemme in the title role. Fresh from acclaimed productions in Stockholm and Zurich, the Swedish soprano gives a thrilling account of this blood-curdling tale.

Presented by Kate Molleson

Nina Stemme (Salome)
Samuel Youn (Jokanaan)
Burkhard Ulrich (Herod)
Doris Soffel (Herodias)
Thomas Blondelle (Narraboth)
Ronnita Miller (Herodias's Page)
Paul Kaufmann (1st Jew)
Gideon Poppe (2nd Jew)
Jörg Schörner (3rd Jew)
Clemens Bieber (4th Jew)
Andrew Harris (5th Jew)
Noel Bouley (1st Narazene)
Carlton Ford (2nd Nazarene)
Marko Mimica (1st Soldier)
Tobias Kehrer (2nd Soldier)
Seth Carico (Cappadocian)
Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Donald Runnicles (conductor)

(From the 91Èȱ¬ Proms 2014, 30 August)

3 hours, 29 minutes

Music Played

  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    O magnum mysterium

    Choir: VOCES8.
    • A Choral Tapestry.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 5.
  • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

    Magnificat primi toni

    Ensemble: VOCES8.
    • A Choral Tapestry.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 6.
  • Arnold Schoenberg

    Verklarte Nacht

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Boris Brovtsyn. Performer: Maxim Rysanov. Performer: Amihai Grosz. Performer: Jens Peter Maintz. Performer: Torleif Thedéen.
    • Decca.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Symphony No 5, Op 50

    Conductor: Colin Davis. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5; Sir Colin Davis, LSO.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 5.
  • Alice Zawadzki

    My Boy of the Birds

    Performer: Alex Roth. Singer: Alice Zawadzki.

Broadcast

  • Sat 15 Aug 2020 18:30

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