Music from the movies
Houston Symphony's Richard Strauss program combines Don Quixote music and images
Cervantes, Miguel. "Histoire de Don Quichotte de la Manche," (The Battle withthe Sheep), Marguerite Reynier, Paris: E. Flammarion, 1933
Cervantes, Miguel, "Histoire de Don Quichotte de la Manche," Marguerite Reynier,Paris: E. Flammarion, 1933
Cervantes, Miguel, "L´ingénieux hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche," Paris:J.-J. Dubochet et Cie., 1836-1837
Cervantes, Miguel. "Adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha," Boston & New York:Lee and Shepard, 1874
Cervantes, Miguel, "Vida y hechos del Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de laMancha," Pedro Pineda, Londres: J. y R. Tonson, 1738
We have this habit of rationalizing what we consider to be unexplainable talent as something that is passed on from generation to generation. It must run in the family.
Take Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Married twice, he had seven children (only four survived) with his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach, and 13 children (six survived) with his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Aside from being quite busy being prosperous and multiplying, many of them were involved in some aspect of music making.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was an virtuoso organist, Carl Philipp Emanuel excelled in the galante style of music writing, and both Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach and Johann Christian Bach were active composers, though their works are not as widely heard today.
The Strauss families experienced similar notoriety.
While Franz Strauss (1822-1905) redefined the status of the French horn, holding the principal chair of the Munich Court Orchestra for nearly 50 years and premiering works like Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, it was his son, Richard Strauss (1864-1949), who is attributed with creating and perfecting the tone poem genre, which happens to have rich horn writing everywhere. Other than the popular last name, there is no relation to Johann Strauss II, whose waltzes and polkas exemplify the exquisite style of Viennese upper echelon socialites.
The Houston Symphony presents an exclusive Richard Strauss program opening with the tragic but achingly beautiful Don Juan followed by Four Last Songs and Don Quixote, tonight, Saturday and Sunday at Jones Hall.
Hans Graf will be at the podium, working with the robust vocals of Erin Wall and the string chops of principal cellist Brinton Averil Smith and principal violist Wayne Brooks.
And if any of it sounds like epic movie music, it is because many modern composers have creatively borrowed themes from Strauss.
The program encompasses music from across the composer's career. Written when he was in his 20s in 1888, Don Juan is his second and arguably Strauss' most famous tone poem. The high level of virtuosic technique demanded from almost every instrument in the orchestra has landed its excerpts in most orchestra audition circles. Getting through the violin writing resembles a blood bath. The sexy oboe solo demands complete control over the instrument, requiring smooth leaps, its octave opening often making one swoon, when done right.
I had the opportunity to perform Don Juan with the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, once with Richard Woodhams, oboe legend and principal at the Philadelphia Orchestra, who earned a rehearsal orchestra ovation after just playing two notes, and Kathy Greenbank, principal at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, who made me miss my entry because I lost myself in fantasy.
Principal oboist Robert Atherholt is retiring this year. This diva moment may be your last chance to hear him loud and clear in an orchestra setting, as he depicts the man who loves too much, ending up in hell. Yes, it's Don Juan, same as Don Giovanni.
Strauss' Four Last Songs were literally his four last songs. Written when he was 84 years old in 1948, the work exercises a singers vocal and emotional range. Though the subject matter deals with man's ultimate journey, there is a sense of calm, acceptance and submission. Rumors of a fifth song exist, unfinished at the time of his death a year later.
The Houston Symphony entrusts Erin Wall to bring the work to life, one that has been superbly recorded by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Jessye Norman. Wall's credits are impressive and was a favorite in 2008 when she graced Jones hall in Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Graf conducting.
In stepping outside of convention, the creatives at the Symphony are pulling all the stops to make Don Quixote and its "Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character" memorable. It's sort of like a concerto, featuring the cello as Don and the viola (with the tenor tuba and bass clarinet) as the zany Sancho Panza. It's highly narrative, an attribute that lends itself to pictorial representations (someone should do a ballet), courtesy of the Cervantes Project.
In partnership with the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries and the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives at Texas A&M, the Cervantes Projects has created a digital archive of anything related to Miguel de Cervantes and focuses particularly on Don Quixote de la Mancha. Expect some of these images to flash above the orchestra, enhancing the narrative, ranging from colorful French illustrations, English-style etchings and American depictions.
Will it work? Or perhaps distract from the rich, complex and highly programmatic score? Let us know what you think.
