Strauss, Dvorjak and Glazunov album review – Contains dramatic effect | classical music

THis delightful release on the Leipzig-based Accentus label is a reminder that the Royal Opera’s new music director, Jakob Harsha, has excelled over the past nine years in orchestral music as principal conductor of the Bamberg Symphony. The program brings together three works composed in the last decades of the nineteenth century, each of which reflects in different ways the concept of the hero, or what is meant by the hero’s journey.

“Hero’s Song” was Dvořák’s final tone poem, a 20-minute mini-symphony in which bold design gives way to mourning, military conflict and finally hope. It’s full of gentle melodies, and in Hrůša’s hands, it packs a dramatic punch. What follows is a compelling discovery: Glazunov’s symphonic elegy to the memory of a hero, composed when he was twenty. Progressing at a somber pace, it boasts a pair of instantly memorable themes, wonderfully shaped by the conductor and orchestra.

Richard Strauss’s ubiquitous “Ein Heldenleben” is no stranger to the disc. Things get off to a slightly heavy start, and the recording can feel crowded when confronted with the full force of Strauss’s orchestration. However, Hrůša’s flexible phrasing ensures that the musical’s play wins, especially in the flexible central image of the composer’s wife and the hero’s poignant final retirement.