R. Strauss: Don Quixote Op.35/don Juan Op.20/till Eulen

Vasily Petrenko is one of the most significant and galvanizing conductors alive. Brittish cellist Louisa Tuck plays on a Nicolo Gagliano cello, dated 1745.

"Don Quixote" was first performed on 8 March 1898 in Cologne, conducted by Franz Wullner with Friedrich Grutzmacher as the soloist. In some ways, it is the most ambitious of Strauss's tone poems if not the loudest nor grandest. But with Strauss, ambition has a multi-directional trajectory. Two years later he delivered a depiction of another doomed soul, this time one with a far surer idea of himself. "Till Eulenspiegel" is fearless scamp hailing from deep within German folklore. With none of Quixote's delusions of gallantry and little of Juan's suave hedonism, Till goes about playing the fool while exposing vice and corruption in German society - perhaps the noblest of all three characters if judged on the moral impetus of his pursuits (his name literally translates as 'wise mirror').