Sinfonia Domestica, for orchestra, Op. 53 (TrV 209)
Die Tageszeiten, for male chorus & orchestra, Op. 76 (TrV 256)
Richard Strauss' Symphonia Domestica was described by its composer this way: "My next tone poem will represent a day in my family life. It will be partly lyrical, partly humorous -- a triple fugue will bring together Papa, Mama, and Baby." This brings the whole picture, from screaming kids to striking clocks to marital disputes. While critics dithered over whether this was fit subject matter for symphonic music, especially when it came in the Adagio to a post-Wagnerian conjugal love scene that even today qualifies as pretty ...
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Richard Strauss' Symphonia Domestica was described by its composer this way: "My next tone poem will represent a day in my family life. It will be partly lyrical, partly humorous -- a triple fugue will bring together Papa, Mama, and Baby." This brings the whole picture, from screaming kids to striking clocks to marital disputes. While critics dithered over whether this was fit subject matter for symphonic music, especially when it came in the Adagio to a post-Wagnerian conjugal love scene that even today qualifies as pretty sexy, the work had its premiere in the U.S., and the great American public took to the symphony enthusiastically. The critics need not have worried, for the symphony's simplicity is deceptive, and in matters of orchestration and structure (the program constantly plays off more abstract ideas such as the above-mentioned fugue) it is actually among Strauss' most subtle works. Conductor Marek Janowski, leading the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, offers a spacious, relaxed reading that...
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