Carnegie Hall

Few pieces of music are more recognizable—or referenced—than Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, forever known as the opening fanfare of 2001: A Space Odyssey. You’ll find no closer connection to the tone poem today than the Vienna Philharmonic, who performed and recorded the piece under Strauss’s own baton, and whose performance is immortalized in Kubrick’s film. This matinee program also features Sibelius’s Second and most popular symphony. A majestic work described as “a confession of the soul” by the Finnish composer, its passions are believed to be both pastoral and patriotic.