Richard Strauss: Sinfonia Domestica Op 53 (Naxos Audio CD)

Staatskapelle Weimar
Antoni Wit, conductor


Richard Strauss’s orchestral music includes several works with autobiographical significance, including Ein Heldenleben (Naxos 8554417).

Scored for large symphony orchestra, the Symphonia domestica depicts the delights and vicissitudes of married life with Strauss, his wife, child and other family members deftly portrayed in a variety of situations, including a ‘cheerful quarrel’ in which the father has the last word!

In contrast, Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings is Strauss’s heartbreaking meditation on the destruction of German culture during World War II.


“…Wit's account of the Symphonia domestica is richly spacious to match the recording although in no way lacking in forward momentum. …the tender writing for the child's "Wiegenlied" in the third section is especially touching, and the "Liebesszene" of the Adagio has all the Straussian erotic passion one could wish for. The Metamorphosen too is well played, with much refinement of texture and no lack of feeling...” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010