Carnegie Hall

Wagner’s myth–inspired opera Die Walküre opens with a violent thunderstorm—listen for it in the orchestra—that’s a fitting prelude to the passionate love arias and duets that follow. Don Juan was a rogue in popular stories, but Strauss’s music portrays the great lover as an idealist searching for fulfillment. However you view the character, the music is sumptuously orchestrated and overflowing with soaring heroic melodies.