Strauss is a contradiction as such, composing opposites of seeming misfits. Christian Thielemann reflects on this: “I often visited Strauss’ home in Garmisch, up to this day nothing has been changed. You still see the beer mugs, you may imagine the bourgeois person living here, sleeping in starched linen, playing cards, and of course he would be enjoying a really good Sundays roast - that is the atmosphere pervading. And that this composer would then drift off to such remote walks of life as for instance with “Elektra” and “Die Frau ohne Schatten” is more than remarkable. To fathom this contradiction in Strauss’ music, wavering between middle class life and artistic excess, between return to the past and holding up traditions as well as overcoming boundaries - nobody could possibly do it better than Thielemann. Thielemann, too, like Strauss is a bourgeois person at the bottom of his heart with a great love for German culture, quite an awe inspiring house at the Griebnitz Lake and a large art collection. “I frankly admit”, he says, “I just love it all. Good wine, good music, wonderful orchestras.”