By David Cleary
SPECIAL TO THE ENTERPRISE NOVEMBER 15, 2004
Sunday's Brockton Symphony Orchestra concert was devoted to the music of Richard Strauss, the late Romantic German composer perhaps best remembered for tone poems such as "Don Juan" and "Till Eulenspiegel." While none of this fare was encountered, the items programmed did provide an ideal overview of this tonemeister's lengthy career.
Like Mozart and Mendelssohn, Strauss was a compositional prodigy with several significant works in his portfolio by the age of 20. One of these, the "Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7," which served as the afternoon's curtain raiser, gained him his first significant public attention. Like all else dating from Strauss' early years, it owes much to venerable masters such as Haydn and Beethoven. More contemporary touchstones such as Wagner would not hold his sway until much later.
The pivotal turning point in Strauss' career -- moving from avant-garde bad boy to conservative Neo-classicist -- is best illustrated by comparing his two turn-of-the-century operas, "Salome" and "Der Rosenkavalier."
(Sunday's presentation saw the former's "Dance of the Seven Veils" and a suite drawn from the latter opera grace the program.)
"Salome" is a lurid, controversial opus, its "Seven Veils" dance a striptease set to clangorous music. "Rosenkavalier," by contrast, sublimates its steamy elements and draws inspiration from the then-outmoded Viennese waltz; the harmonic language, while not altogether regressive, avoids the discords central to "Salome."
Strauss' last works, which demonstrate crafty synthesis of a lifetime's varied influences, include some of his finest utterances. His final piece, the "Four Last Songs," which appeared before intermission yesterday, ranks among the most transcendently beautiful music by any composer.
Imaginatively led by Jonathan Cohler, the Brockton Symphony sounded first-rate regardless of Straussian era: resonantly colorful in the "Rosenkavalier" suite, unblushingly risqué in the "Dance of the Seven Veils," soberly thoughtful in the "Serenade."
From a wealth of worthy individual efforts, one should cite those of violinist Kristina Nilsson, flautist Arielle Hansen, oboist Mie Shiraishi, and clarinetist Torben Hansen. And the foursome of Rosalyn Black, Johanna Lundy, David Rufino and Yu-Mien Tsao provided the finest, most polished outing heard in several years by a Brockton Symphony horn section.
Soprano Andrea DelGiudice's voice, while not Valkyrie powerful, projected a mix of agility and warmth ideal for the poignant "Four Last Songs."
The orchestra's backing was supportive, yet personable.
