Cast
Zubin Mehta — Conductor
Program notes
The Israel Philharmonic's music director rehearses Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
In this portrait, Zubin Mehta, Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra rehearses Till Eulenspiegel by Richard Strauss.
Richard Strauss' orchestral works contain a wealth of autobiographical allusions. This is equally true of the whimsical tone-poem Till Eulenspiegel, op. 28, which was completed in 1895. Strauss felt badly treated by the public in his home town of Munich, because his neo-Wagnerian opera Guntram had closed after only a single performance. In fact he had already planned a one-act stage work about the pranks of the legendary rascal Till Eulenspiegel and his 'victims', the town of Schilda's narrow-minded petit bourgeois citizens. The openly programmatic composition with its phenomenal audacity and unique demands on orchestral technique simultaneously shocked and delighted his public.
Great conductors in rehearsal:
Featuring some of today’s leading conductors in rehearsal, this series gives a unique insight into the process of creating great music. The conductors’ very different styles and methods; the dialogue between an orchestra and an inspired interpreter; the intensity of the preparations for a concert performance; and the struggle towards perfection are captured in these revealing audio-visual records. Most episodes include a full run-through of the work rehearsed. All include interviews with the conductor who is seen at work, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Roger Norrington, Pierre Boulez and Christoph von Dohnányi.
