Following up on another one of those “watch party” invitations I received as electronic mail from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), I decided to use the DSO Replay Web site to check out the video recording of Richard Strauss’ “Burleske” in D minor. Strauss composed this twenty-minute single-movement composition for piano and orchestra between 1885 and 1886, when he was 21 years old. This composition has been a personal favorite, going all the way back to my “first contact” experience of an RCA vinyl recording of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner with Byron Janis as the piano soloist.
I suspect one of the reasons I like the piece so much is that it abounds with a sense of humor that is never exercised to the detriment of another. Even though the title connotes sharp-edged mockery, no one ever gets cut on those edges. Consider, in contrast, the wounds inflicted over the course of the Opus 59 Der Rosenkavalier. Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau may get what he deserves, but we cannot say the same for The Marschallin, Princess Marie Thérèse von Werdenberg. She may rise sublimely above her wounds during the trio at the end of the opera; but she is still wounded when Octavian, Count Rofrano, deserts her to prepare to marry Sophie von Faninal. For that matter in the Opus 60 “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Zerbinetta gets the last word in observing that Ariadne has been blinded by love like any other woman. For that matter, among the tone poems the conclusions of Opus 20 (“Don Juan”), Opus 28 (“Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”), and Opus 35 (“Don Quixote”) are more bitter than sweet.
Jeremy Epp playing the opening (soft) timpani solo in Richard Strauss’ “Burleske” (screen shot from the video being discussed)
In the “Burleske,” on the other hand, we encounter Strauss warming up for “Till Eulenspiegel” with less of a mean streak. The humor has more to do with the prevailing rhetoric of the music itself, not to mention the somewhat outrageous decision to allot one of the themes to the timpani. Indeed, the dynamic range of the timpani entails as much sensitivity as the solo work for the piano. As a result, the video has the advantage of bringing attention to the timpanist (Jeremy Epp) during the softer passages, passages that are often overlooked by audiences in the concert hall.
Consulting my records, I see that I have written two accounts of performances of “Burleske,” both of which involved the San Francisco Symphony in Davies Symphony Hall. The most recent was in November of 2011, when I reported for Examiner.com about Semyon Bychkov conducting pianist Kirill Gerstein. However, prior to the Examiner.com days, I see that, in October of 2008, I wrote an account of pianist Emanuel Ax performing under the baton of Peter Oundjian. The DSO performance took place on April 7, 2018 with Fabien Gabel conducting pianist Bertrand Chamayou.
I seem to have no record of previous experience with either of these artists. As a result, the video provided me with a “journey of discovery” that was greatly appreciated. Both Gabel and Chamayou clearly appreciated the high spirits of the music. Furthermore, the clarity of the thematic material reminded me once again that this music may have been on Leonard Bernstein’s mind when he penned the music for “Somewhere” in West Side Story. (Raising that point reminds me of the observer that noted that the opening of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 1 (first) piano sonata in C major sounded a lot like the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 106 “Hammerklavier” piano sonata in B-flat major, to which Brahms replied “Any jackass can see that!”)
“Burleske” is definitely “music for the fun of it;” and there is no shortage of fun on the DSO video!
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