Strauss, R.: Oboe Concerto / Der Burger Als Edelmann Orchestersuite

Featuring

Neeme Järvi
Alf Nilsson
Stockholm Sinfonietta
Richard Strauss

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

The 1912 premiere of the combined Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Ariadne auf Naxos in Stuttgart caused displeasure, leading Strauss to revise the material and separate the opera.

Performer Biography

Neeme Järvi, the conductor, made his conducting debut at age 18 in a concert performance of Strauss's Eine Nacht in Venedig and won first prize at an international conducting competition in Rome in 1971.

Composition History

Richard Strauss wrote virtually no purely orchestral, non-programmatic works, including compositions for solo instrument and orchestra, during his "period of splendour" (roughly 1890-1940).

Composition History

Richard Strauss's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and the opera Ariadne auf Naxos were originally conceived as a single work.

Compositional Technique

The orchestral suite Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme is scored for chamber orchestra, treated with such spirit that its smaller size compared to a customary Strauss orchestra is almost forgotten.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Richard Strauss viewed his own works more prosaically than his contemporaries, once calling a late orchestral piece "just workmanship and wrist exercise."

Compositional Technique

The Oboe Concerto, completed in 1945, marks a return for Richard Strauss to the tonal language he cultivated in his youth, replacing youthful optimism with the transfiguration of an aging master.