This was a very good concert (Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Barber’s Adagio and Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht). Because again of commercial constraints the numbers of players had been reduced to 7 (6 for the Schoenberg). But – there is evidence that Strauss was originally thinking of a septet, before receiving a commission from Paul Sacher for his string orchestra, and the Schoenberg had originally been written for 6 players. All were very rewarding performances – I have listened to the Strauss many times on recordings and on the radio but I can’t remember ever going to a live performance – the Schoenberg I think I heard with the Halle maybe 10 years ago. The playing of both works carried utter conviction and my attention never wavered for a moment (I had had concerns about that, having treated myself to a splendid lamb jalfrezi and a large bottle of Cobra beer before the concert at the local Buxton curry house). I can’t say the reduced numbers led to any lessening of the complexity of the musical lines in the Strauss though there was sometimes a bit of a lack of heft at certain points of romantic sweep and passion. I just sat awed by the gradually changing shapes of themes and the poignance of some of the constantly evolving musical fragments in the work, and how the complexity of the work is in a sense an answer to the despair at the shattering of German culture in 1945 which Strauss felt, being itself a standard-bearer for the continuation of that culture and its links with the past glories of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, whatever the Nazis had tried to do to make those links their own. This is one of the few Strauss works which contradicts his famous self-portrait of not being ‘a first-rate composer, but ….a first-class second-rate composer”!
I found myself listening closely too to the Schoenberg and picking up on the gradual transformation of the main themes. By the side of these two great masters, at different ends of their career – Strauss coming up to 80, Schoenberg 24 or so – the Barber piece felt to be in a different division – not as rich and complex, not evolving in the same way. Famous as the tune is, much less happens to it…..
The concert closed at about 10pm with the whispering in the high violins and the rocking rhythms of the other strings closing the Schoenberg with transfiguring moonlight. A wonderful way to leave the church and walk into the dusk…….
John's musical journey 