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All this week, Donald Macleod explores key figures in the life of Richard Strauss. Today he鈥檚 joined by that other Titan of Austro-German music at the turn of the 20th century, the composer Gustav Mahler, with whom Strauss enjoyed a friendly rivalry 鈥� spiked, perhaps, on Mahler鈥檚 side at least, with a dash of resentment.

We get a sense of this resentment from the published recollections of Mahler鈥檚 wife Alma. She鈥檚 an at times biased and unreliable witness, but her account of Strauss鈥檚 behaviour following the first complete performance 鈥� at Strauss鈥檚 instigation 鈥� of Mahler鈥檚 Nietzsche-inspired 3rd Symphony does seem to have the ring of truth about it. She recalled that after the concert, she and Mahler had supper at a small inn: 鈥淪trauss, as he passed our table, gave us all his hand in a lordly way and went on, without noticing Mahler鈥檚 extreme agitation or addressing a single word to him. Mahler took this very much to heart. His spirits sank, and the public acclamation now seemed of no account.鈥� It鈥檚 also from Alma that we know about the occasion on which Strauss performed his recently completed opera Salome for them, in a piano shop in Strasbourg, where they had travelled for a music festival. Mahler, who had originally advised Strauss against setting Oscar Wilde鈥檚 play to music, was completely blown away by it, and his subsequent failure to get the scandalous new work past the Austrian censors was one of the main reasons he eventually resigned his Directorship of the Vienna State Opera and crossed the Atlantic to pursue his career in New York. Mahler鈥檚 death just a few years later seems to have rekindled for Strauss the flame of an old project 鈥� also inspired by the philosophy of Nietzsche. Originally to be called Sunrise, it briefly became The Antichrist, before finally acquiring the name by which we know it today: An Alpine Symphony, reflecting Strauss鈥檚 love of the spectacular mountain scenery that surrounded him at his home in the Bavarian Alps. Mahler, too, wrested musical inspiration from the mountains. When the conductor Bruno Walter came to visit him at his composing retreat in Steinbach am Attersee during the composition of his 3rd Symphony, the composer said to him: 鈥淒on't bother looking at the mountains, I have already composed them into my symphony.鈥�

Salome, Op 54 (鈥淲ie sch枚n ist die Prinzessin Salome heute nacht!鈥�)
Wies艂aw Ochman, tenor (Narraboth)
Helj盲 Angervo, contralto (Page)
Gerd Nienstedt, bass (First Soldier)
Kurt Rydl, bass (Second Soldier)
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan, conductor

Symphony No 2 in F minor, Op 12 (2nd mvt, Scherzo)
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumorchester
Sebastian Weigle, conductor

Also sprach Zarathustra, Op 30 (8, The Dance Song; 9. Song of the Night Wanderer)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

An Alpine Symphony, Op 64 (13, On the Summit; 14, Vision; 15, Mists Rise)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Mariss Jansons, conductor

Salome, Op 54 (Sc 4, 鈥淎h! Du wolltest mich deinen Mund nicht k眉ssen lassen, Jochanaan!鈥�)
Hildegard Behrens, soprano (Salome)
Karl-Walter B枚hm, tenor (Herod)
Agnes Baltsa, mezzo-soprano (Herodias)
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan, conductor

Produced by Chris Barstow for 鲍鱼tv Audio Wales & West