RSNO, 12/05/2018
Strauss : Burleske (Kirill Gerstein, piano)
Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier - Suite
Brahms : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Richard Strauss wrote two works for piano and orchestra; Parergon, composed in 1925 for Paul Wittgenstein, and therefore for piano left hand, and 40 years earlier, this Burleske. Strauss was 21, all of his well-known symphonic poems were still to come, and of the (many!) compositions that pre-date the Burleske, only really a handful of songs (notably the Op. 10 set), and the 1st Horn Concerto are consistently performed today. The piece's original dedicatee, Hans von Bülow, disliked it, and even Strauss himself was not too sure of its value, until it was taken up by one of Liszt's foremost pupils, the Glasgow-born Eugen d'Albert, for whom Strauss revised the work into its present form, and who championed it.
It remains a startling work, quirky and a little demonic in patches. The opening section plays as if Strauss wrote out his material, then cut it up into little sections of a few bars, spread them out over all the orchestral sections plus the soloist, and then expected it all to dovetail back into shape perfectly, so that you will get, for example, the timps finishing a phrase the strings began, or the winds starting something the piano finishes. It's challenging and witty, and, I think, very difficult to get right immediately, and almost sounds more like something Stravinsky might have written, until the piano introduces the waltz-like second subject, and then we're back on Straussian terra firma. The very beginning of tonight's performance was not quite incisive enough, until Kirill Gerstein bounded into action with real zest, and bringing everything into focus around him.
The Rosenkavalier Suite (not to be confused with the two Waltz Sequences) was premiered in 1944, and I had thought it was actually arranged (with Strauss's permission) by the conductor of that premiere, Artur Rodziński. However, tonight's programme notes quote a letter from the composer that distinctly indicates that the arrangement was by Strauss himself. I'm still not sure about the very end of the Suite, it has always seemed a bit clunky to me, and I would have liked to think that Strauss himself could do better. Nevertheless, the music is still glorious.
Again, I felt the start did not quite have the right kind of energy to it, but with the first up-lift to the Act 2 opening music, leading into the Presentation of the Rose, the piece was transformed. This is music that never fails to make an impact, the upwardly spiralling excitement leading into glittering fanfares, suddenly dropping away into shimmering magic as Sophie and Octavian come face-to-face, with lovely, hushed playing from principal trumpet and oboe. The Suite also includes the final act Trio and Duet, and you do miss the voices, if you know the opera, because sometimes they are doubled in the orchestra, and sometimes not. On the other hand, it's fascinating to watch the orchestra, because you hear so much more clearly than you do in the opera house, when your attention is on the stage and the singers. This is Strauss the master orchestrator at work, and he was one of the greatest orchestrators in all of musical history. There are moments when the strings are divided right down to the level of individual players, it's really quite remarkable to see it, for once. The big waltz, Baron Ochs's "Mit mir" was delivered with appropriate panache and swirl.
This world of Viennese "Schlagobers" is firmly left behind from the stern opening bars of Brahms's 1st Symphony. The symphony's long maturation period produced not so much a fine wine, as an exceptional vintage brandy, mellow and spicy-sweet on the palate, redolent with rich and heady notes, of summer and storms, of doubt and certainty, of a long quest that, through the symphony's explorations, reaches a confident conclusion. It's odd hearing Brahms sound almost lean, but that was sort of inevitable after the complexity of Strauss's orchestra, and it lent a kind of freshness to the sound that was very welcome. The "alphorn" theme of the final music was glowingly delivered by the horns, and the symphony as a whole was both noble and human, both warm and grand.
[Next : 13th May]
Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier - Suite
Brahms : Symphony No. 1
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård
Richard Strauss wrote two works for piano and orchestra; Parergon, composed in 1925 for Paul Wittgenstein, and therefore for piano left hand, and 40 years earlier, this Burleske. Strauss was 21, all of his well-known symphonic poems were still to come, and of the (many!) compositions that pre-date the Burleske, only really a handful of songs (notably the Op. 10 set), and the 1st Horn Concerto are consistently performed today. The piece's original dedicatee, Hans von Bülow, disliked it, and even Strauss himself was not too sure of its value, until it was taken up by one of Liszt's foremost pupils, the Glasgow-born Eugen d'Albert, for whom Strauss revised the work into its present form, and who championed it.
It remains a startling work, quirky and a little demonic in patches. The opening section plays as if Strauss wrote out his material, then cut it up into little sections of a few bars, spread them out over all the orchestral sections plus the soloist, and then expected it all to dovetail back into shape perfectly, so that you will get, for example, the timps finishing a phrase the strings began, or the winds starting something the piano finishes. It's challenging and witty, and, I think, very difficult to get right immediately, and almost sounds more like something Stravinsky might have written, until the piano introduces the waltz-like second subject, and then we're back on Straussian terra firma. The very beginning of tonight's performance was not quite incisive enough, until Kirill Gerstein bounded into action with real zest, and bringing everything into focus around him.
The Rosenkavalier Suite (not to be confused with the two Waltz Sequences) was premiered in 1944, and I had thought it was actually arranged (with Strauss's permission) by the conductor of that premiere, Artur Rodziński. However, tonight's programme notes quote a letter from the composer that distinctly indicates that the arrangement was by Strauss himself. I'm still not sure about the very end of the Suite, it has always seemed a bit clunky to me, and I would have liked to think that Strauss himself could do better. Nevertheless, the music is still glorious.
Again, I felt the start did not quite have the right kind of energy to it, but with the first up-lift to the Act 2 opening music, leading into the Presentation of the Rose, the piece was transformed. This is music that never fails to make an impact, the upwardly spiralling excitement leading into glittering fanfares, suddenly dropping away into shimmering magic as Sophie and Octavian come face-to-face, with lovely, hushed playing from principal trumpet and oboe. The Suite also includes the final act Trio and Duet, and you do miss the voices, if you know the opera, because sometimes they are doubled in the orchestra, and sometimes not. On the other hand, it's fascinating to watch the orchestra, because you hear so much more clearly than you do in the opera house, when your attention is on the stage and the singers. This is Strauss the master orchestrator at work, and he was one of the greatest orchestrators in all of musical history. There are moments when the strings are divided right down to the level of individual players, it's really quite remarkable to see it, for once. The big waltz, Baron Ochs's "Mit mir" was delivered with appropriate panache and swirl.
This world of Viennese "Schlagobers" is firmly left behind from the stern opening bars of Brahms's 1st Symphony. The symphony's long maturation period produced not so much a fine wine, as an exceptional vintage brandy, mellow and spicy-sweet on the palate, redolent with rich and heady notes, of summer and storms, of doubt and certainty, of a long quest that, through the symphony's explorations, reaches a confident conclusion. It's odd hearing Brahms sound almost lean, but that was sort of inevitable after the complexity of Strauss's orchestra, and it lent a kind of freshness to the sound that was very welcome. The "alphorn" theme of the final music was glowingly delivered by the horns, and the symphony as a whole was both noble and human, both warm and grand.
[Next : 13th May]