Emanuel Ax, piano, Yo-Yo Ma, cello ... Wednesday, November 7, 1984, Jesse Auditorium

Abstract

"The early compositions of Richard Strauss (1864-1949) are relatively unknown to modern audiences. When one thinks of Strauss, it is naturally his mature works that come to mind--the art songs, the symphonic poems, the operas. And yet, the compositions of his early adulthood, created during his "apprenticeship," are worthy of consideration. His was a precocious talent, and, although such pieces do not (and should not be expected to) exhibit his fully evolved musical personality, his gifts of melodic and rhythmic invention are well evident. Often so are his models. His Cello Sonata in F Major, Op. 6 (1883), dating from the summer following his first year at the University of Munich, is "haunted" by the shades of Beethoven and Mendelssohn and possibly Schumann. This is not to be held against the nineteen-year-old composer! Be it noted that Strauss's father, a distinguished musician in his own right and a dogmatic reactionary in matters of progressive musical taste, exerted a powerful influence over his son. He must have been well pleased with this conservative creation. It would be several more years before the younger Strauss would stop looking "backward" and would embrace the so-called "Music of the Future" of Liszt, Wagner, and their followers."