R. Strauss: Metamorphosen, Capriccio & Piano Quartet

Presentación del Álbum

Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings? Not this time: in this 2006 recording by London's Nash Ensemble, Metamorphosen is played by a string septet: pairs of violins, violas, and cellos plus a single bass. The arrangement -- or, rather, the realization -- by Rudolf Leopold was made from Strauss' initial sketch for the work as a string septet found in 1990 -- 45 years after its composition. Aside from retaining the original septet's closing modulation, Leopold's seven-string realization is faithful to the 23-string version in every particular except of course texture and density. In this performance by the Nash Ensemble, the strength of the sonorities doubles for the loss of weight and the intensity of the lines more than compensates for the loss of density. But beyond the arrangement and the ensemble's playing, it is the Nash's extremely passionate interpretation, the way they arch lines, drive climaxes and ultimately give way to stoic grief in the final pages, that makes their performance so convincing. Anyone who knows Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings need not hesitate to check Metamorphosen for seven solo strings.
Impressive as it is, Metamorphosis is not the biggest piece on the recital. After that, the Nash programmed Strauss' youthful four-movement Piano Quartet in C minor. Appropriately, the Nash put its back into the work's neo-Brahmsian themes and developments. Following the quartet, the Nash programmed Strauss' string sextet Prelude to his final opera Capriccio, and, appropriately, emphasized the work's tone of cozy nostalgia and bone-deep sentimentality. Captured in warm, close sound by Hyperion, this disc makes an excellent addition to Strauss' chamber music discography.

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