On September 4 2004 Mariss Jansons conducted his first concert as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Mariss Jansons's choice to perform Richard Strauss tone poem Ein Heldenleben at his first concert with his new orchestra is not an incidental one. Richard Strauss dedicated the piece to the orchestra, its musicians and its chief conductor Willem Mengelberg back in 1898. It was one of the earliest acclamations of the orchestra’s artistic quality, and has been one of the orchestra’s war-horses ever since.
Recorded live at Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 4-6 September 2004.