Also, Serenade, Op. 7. George Vosburgh, Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble. Reference Recordings FR-745.
By John J. Puccio
The German composer Richard Strauss died in 1949. Among his last half dozen or so works was the Sonatina No 2 in E-flat major, “The Happy Workshop,” written for 16 wind instruments. His publishers later changed the title to Symphony for Winds thinking that since it was fairly long and in several movements, it more closely resembled a symphony than a sonata. Or maybe they figured it would sell better if given the more imposing designation of “symphony.” Whatever, it also bears the listing “posthumous,” even though Strauss wrote it in 1945-46 and was very much alive (and in attendance) for its first public performance. Go figure.
In any case, Strauss is probably most famous today for his having written a whole string of Romantic tone poems (Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, An Alpine Symphony), and then pretty much abandoning the genre for the last three or more decades of his life. After the tone poems, he shifted to operas, songs, concertos, and various short works in a more modern style. But “The Happy Workshop” was one of the exceptions, returning to his roots, so to speak. On the present disc, we find conductor and trumpeter George Vosburgh leading the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble on a Reference Recordings CD.
So, why the subtitle “The Happy Workshop”? Strauss gives us a clue with his dedication on the work’s title page: “To the spirit of the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of gratitude.” Certainly, Strauss shows an allegiance to Mozart in references throughout the music and perhaps empathized with Mozart’s struggles toward the end of his life. Then, too, Strauss had spent the years before the composition living in Nazi Germany as a “non-person” and was ill for much of the time. The work preceding the “The Happy Workshop,” the Sonatina No. 1, he had dubbed “From an Invalid’s Workshop.” Maybe feeling better physically and being out from under the yoke of Nazism prompted him to add the optimistic caption to the second work.
Anyway, the music opens with a fairly lengthy (about fifteen minutes) Allegro con brio (quick, lively, with great energy). That’s followed by two relatively short middle sections (a little over four minutes each), an Andantino, sehr gemachlich (a little faster than an andante, but still slowly, leisurely); and a Minuet, etwas lebhaft (a stately court dance, in a lively fashion). The piece concludes with a movement he called Enlietung, (Andante) und Allegro, which begins somewhat gloomily but soon gives way to more energetic and hopeful themes.
Of course, the Carnegie Mellon players do the piece justice, as we might expect from an ensemble that has been around since 1908. Maestro Vosburgh has been their Director since 2011. They dance through the music with a smooth, graceful, subtle, yet expressive agility. It was fun listening to them move effortlessly from Strauss’s more serious passages to his light, witty ones. They handle the two, brief central movements especially well, too, the Andantino willowy and supple, with some charming little interludes, and the Minuet elegant and refined. The finale movement is a tad problematic, moving as it does from one mood swing to another, yet here they also manage the transition with the utmost poise, ending on the sweetest of notes.
Coupled with “The Happy Workshop” is the Serenade, Op. 7 (for 13 wind instruments), one of Strauss’s early works, written in 1882 when he was still in his teens. Strauss wrote a ton of music in his youth, only a few of which later got opus numbers, this one significantly. The album pairs the Serenade with the Sonatina No 2 as bookends to Strauss’s career, showing how in the composer’s later life he returned to his early, more Classical-Romantic origins. Under Maestro Vosburgh’s direction, the tone of the Serenade is remarkably similar to that of the “The Happy Workshop,” and it makes a fitting finale to the album.
Producers George Vosburgh and Stephen Story and engineers Sean Royce Martin, Keith O. Johnson, and Riccardo Schulz recorded the music a Kresge Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Like most Reference Recordings, this one is quite natural, both in its perspective and its frequency balance. The room is always present in a medium-distanced miking scheme, with a fair amount of ambient bloom. The overall effect is warm and inviting, a touch soft, and always listenable.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
By John J. Puccio
In any case, Strauss is probably most famous today for his having written a whole string of Romantic tone poems (Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, An Alpine Symphony), and then pretty much abandoning the genre for the last three or more decades of his life. After the tone poems, he shifted to operas, songs, concertos, and various short works in a more modern style. But “The Happy Workshop” was one of the exceptions, returning to his roots, so to speak. On the present disc, we find conductor and trumpeter George Vosburgh leading the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble on a Reference Recordings CD.
So, why the subtitle “The Happy Workshop”? Strauss gives us a clue with his dedication on the work’s title page: “To the spirit of the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of gratitude.” Certainly, Strauss shows an allegiance to Mozart in references throughout the music and perhaps empathized with Mozart’s struggles toward the end of his life. Then, too, Strauss had spent the years before the composition living in Nazi Germany as a “non-person” and was ill for much of the time. The work preceding the “The Happy Workshop,” the Sonatina No. 1, he had dubbed “From an Invalid’s Workshop.” Maybe feeling better physically and being out from under the yoke of Nazism prompted him to add the optimistic caption to the second work.
Of course, the Carnegie Mellon players do the piece justice, as we might expect from an ensemble that has been around since 1908. Maestro Vosburgh has been their Director since 2011. They dance through the music with a smooth, graceful, subtle, yet expressive agility. It was fun listening to them move effortlessly from Strauss’s more serious passages to his light, witty ones. They handle the two, brief central movements especially well, too, the Andantino willowy and supple, with some charming little interludes, and the Minuet elegant and refined. The finale movement is a tad problematic, moving as it does from one mood swing to another, yet here they also manage the transition with the utmost poise, ending on the sweetest of notes.
Coupled with “The Happy Workshop” is the Serenade, Op. 7 (for 13 wind instruments), one of Strauss’s early works, written in 1882 when he was still in his teens. Strauss wrote a ton of music in his youth, only a few of which later got opus numbers, this one significantly. The album pairs the Serenade with the Sonatina No 2 as bookends to Strauss’s career, showing how in the composer’s later life he returned to his early, more Classical-Romantic origins. Under Maestro Vosburgh’s direction, the tone of the Serenade is remarkably similar to that of the “The Happy Workshop,” and it makes a fitting finale to the album.
Producers George Vosburgh and Stephen Story and engineers Sean Royce Martin, Keith O. Johnson, and Riccardo Schulz recorded the music a Kresge Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Like most Reference Recordings, this one is quite natural, both in its perspective and its frequency balance. The room is always present in a medium-distanced miking scheme, with a fair amount of ambient bloom. The overall effect is warm and inviting, a touch soft, and always listenable.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
