Strauss (& a conference, Oxford UK)

[Sean]

This one isn't far from me so I'm going-

http://straussatoxford2007.co.uk/

Some thoughts on the master...

This week I got hold of the Karajan recording of Sinfonia Domestica, not having heard this since I had the LP about 20 years ago: it's an exultant but refined and virtuosic account, surely unsurpassed- and I never understood the lower profile the piece has, especially as it can make such an impact, and is far stronger than Alpinesinfonie (Karajan also regards it as one of the greatest poems). Written just before Salome you can hear the beginnings of the disintegration of his sense of line and closure in phrasing, his complicated brain getting the better of him, but what a life-loving riot of invention, original logic and thinking, absolutely thrilling.

He constantly forestalls cadences with introduction of new material, in an intuitive way that as in Wagner seems arbitrary yet right, but the effect being more heartfelt and sincere rather than obfuscating: it exudes I think a Wagnerian redemption through love in the sense that overall logic trumps over doubtful small-scale syntax (& also all his operas (?)bar Schweigsame have a love interest). Sinfonia domestica's convolutions and immense contrapuntal skill compare with Mahler, eg cf Ninth symph scherzo a few years later, but with that Wagnerian unpredictability and ecstasy- and far from Mahlerian neurosis. There's this unexpected, untroubled clear-headedness and humanity- Mozartian, transparent and limpid: would be interesting to see Nietzsche try and straighten that out!.

Strauss's chaos I'd suggest reflects Dionysian thought processes in the exultant movement of ideas all over the place yet somehow following their own inner logic: material cuts off other material in euphoric flow, obliterating the need for closure, unity lying with an inner bliss rather than formal balance. Strauss better nailed his convoluted thinking in the early orchestral work and unfortunately in the stage works those intricate lines of argument tend more often to stay open indefinitely: the vocal line is more inscrutable and dizzy with wider leaps, its logic more far fetched, than Wagner's version of recitative-melody. However it's marvellous music, such is its wholeheartedness, lusciousness and warmth, breezing over all else he could be criticized for.

And new way of listening, of organizing musical thought, is given in these extraordinary late works- patience is needed to get past the note-spinning but the overall supra-structures make some fabulous and rewarding listening beyond the symmetries one would traditionally look for. He seems to explore areas of keys to create a kind of second-order tonal organisation where the tedium becomes almost irrelevant...

As in Wagner Strauss breaks down perspicuous structure on levels from the moment to moment through to the widest, transferring attention onto an intuitive structure or logic (as in Wagner) and reorienting Wagnerian onward movement and lack of critical space towards a rib-nudging humour and the delight in the overall conception (though it doesn't seem conceptual). The small scale lack of closure often becomes entirely self-indulgent and comical in a warm hearted way that seems to say ignore the architecture and enjoy the moment and the singing per se, in and for itself (ref the supra noumenal): it's right to drop your rational, symmetries-seeking mind, and the overall effect is totally winning...

& Recently got hold of Strauss Piano sonata op.5 (from a radio broadcast), the first movement built around a happily naive quote of the opening motif of Beethoven Five, and the finale formulaic if satisfying: just a little of the waywardness to come is evident though.