CONCERTANTE DI CHICAGO
First on the program was one of the very early efforts that established him as a prodigy to watch. For a bit of juvenilia–he was 16–the Serenade in E-flat Major for 13 Winds (1880) is quite remarkable, showing a clever, nimble mind still under the sway of late classicism. Not at all surprisingly, this one-movement andante loosely follows the contour and spirit of Brahms’s serenades, while its sonority has the bravura of Schumann’s Concertstuck for Four Horns. The Concertante di Chicago, most of whose 30-plus members also belong to the Lyric Opera and Grant Park orchestras, performed the string transcription by H. Ley. Their playing, under Hilel Kagan, was earnest, genial, but not always unanimous; it couldn’t convey the breezy, mellow tone one would expect from a top-notch wind band.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
In the years between the two world wars Strauss concentrated his energy on his conducting duties and on producing more operas. Like Beethoven, he was honored as a relic from a legendary past. Unlike Beethoven, he had run out of fresh ideas. Young Turks such as Schoenberg and Berg had taken a couple giant steps beyond Death and Transfiguration and Salome with the much more daring Transfigured Night, Erwartung, and Wozzeck. Strauss was at a loss creatively. In the 30s the Nazi regime courted him, and he let them–he was, after all, a Teuton. He continued to compose, yet even he seemed to realize it was time to retire. His last opera was completed in 1941.
