Strauss: Der Bürger als Edelmann & Metamorphosen

Written in 1945 by a Richard Strauss shattered by the desolation of post-war Germany, Metamorphosen is a landmark work in more than one respect. It stands as the intimate meditation of a composer in the twilight of his life  ̶  the final gloaming of musical Romanticism by its last great master, composed as the world stood on the precipice of a new era. This January 25th marks the 80th anniversary of the premiere of this monument for 23 solo strings. We present it here in a masterful reading conducted by Jeffrey Tate, paired with Strauss’s own Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht.