Laws of Solitude review – Asmik Grigorian’s Strauss is less than compelling

The usually thrilling stage performer is more subdued in this curiously titled album with piano and orchestral versions of Strauss’s Four Last Songs

The week in classical: BBC Proms week one; Ariadne auf Naxos – review

Record viewing and listening figures, plus keyboard wizardry from Paul Lewis, Benjamin Grosvenor and Stephen Hough, kicked off another year at the Proms. Elsewhere, Strauss’s Cretan romcom laid bare

LSO/Roth review – vivid, violent and virtuosic premieres

Three UK premieres by Francisco Coll, Helen Grime and Joel Järventausta sat alongside two of Strauss’s symphonic poems in the latest LSO Futures concert

LSO/Barbara Hannigan review – playing havoc with the balance of sympathies

The soprano and conductor takes on jarring dual role as she juxtaposes Strauss’s Metamorphosen with a multimedia version of La Voix Humaine

Philharmonia/Rouvali review – new principal conductor proves himself a fine Straussian

In his first concert as the Philharmonia’s Principal Conductor, Santtu-Matias Rouvali brought a glowing string sound and irresistible elan to an all-Strauss programme

Der Rosenkavalier review – glittering 50s update cleverly separates love and lust

Bruno Ravella’s production has a glamorous staging that allows Miah Persson’s understated refinement to register

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten review – outstanding account of a demanding, dramatic masterpiece

Strauss’s fairytale epic is full of magnificent detail in the hands of Christian Thielemann, while Camilla Nylund’s Empress is supple and intense

Lise Davidsen: Wagner and Strauss review – powerhouse soprano’s stunning debut

Her voice is the calm at the centre of a storm of music by Wagner and Strauss in Davidsen’s worth-the-wait album

Salome review – petals, porn and dead ponies give Strauss a feminist reboot

Adena Jacobs floods her stage with blood in an English National Opera re-imagining that does not quite live up to its early intrigue

Madama Butterfly/Der Rosenkavalier review – Glyndebourne openers perplex, provoke and charm

Annilese Miskimmon’s stripped-back Puccini update and an admirable but uneven Strauss revival opened this year’s summer festival

Salome review – an injection of fresh blood for chilling, gory Strauss

David McVicar revives his provocative production for a third time with more nudity, a severed head and a heroine who acts like a petulant pseudo-teen

Tosca; Der Rosenkavalier; Vixen – review

Grange Park Opera settles into its new home with a stirring Tosca, and fine acting lifts WNO’s Der Rosenkavalier

Strauss: Metamorphosen, Serenade, etc CD review – Aldeburgh strings are lithe and sophisticated

Metamorphosen can make me seasick in the wrong hands. Written by an 85-year-old Richard Strauss in the months after the second world war, the relentless, swell and tug of the grief-thick harmonies need players who see past the next wave … Continue reading →

Der Rosenkavalier review – big guns and young lovers overcome stage obstacles

Renée Fleming leads a fine cast including Alice Coote, Sophie Bevan and Matthew Rose in a production whose romantic comedy plays out against a distractingly over-the-top backdrop

Leipzig Gewandhaus/Chailly/Fröst review – Strauss with bright exactitude

Riccardo Chailly brought a pressing, unsentimental approach to Richard Strauss, while Martin Fröst played Mozart’s clarinet concerto with irresistible character