Is it Music? Is it Noise? Is it Memorex?

On a recommendation I picked up this book by Alex Ross as summer reading. I’m really only a few chapters in so far, but this is an excellent piece of work. The main objective of the book is to sketch a reasonable argument for the development of “serious music” in the twentieth century along historical lines. As anyone who reads or writes history will know, there are always multiple perspectives and Ross has his own understanding of what the great watershed musical events of the last one hundred or so years have been. Just like a rock and roll writer will usually extol the virtues of Elvis, Ross acknowledges the pioneers and the popularity-contest winners while offering interesting arguments for which composers are most likely to be remembered from the latter part of the twentieth century. Having a working knowledge of the history of western music is good before jumping into this book, yet the writing is clear enough to appeal to the non-obsessive music listener as well.

What I am enjoying most about Ross’s book so far is how he is bringing to life some composers that I have been less enthusiastic about up to now. The book begins with a chapter about Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. Mahler has been much more appealing to me since I started listening more intently several years ago. While Strauss’s genius was certainly apparent to me in his more popular pieces, I felt a certain indifference towards his music. Some pieces resonated more than others. Pretty early on in my listening journey I picked up a copy of the Living Stereo sacd of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony performing Strauss’s “Symphony Domestica” and it was not as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. I get the feeling that there could be something I’m missing about that piece since just about every other Reiner / Chicago album I have is top notch. So I just kinda gave Strauss a bit of a miss for the most part.

Ross’s book makes a wonderful argument that Richard Strauss was responsible for one of the earliest breaks with older musical forms with his opera “Salome” – the very ending of which has a famously “ugly chord” pointing the way to the sound of the future. This is fascinating for me considering two words I’ve been less interested in so far have been “Strauss” and “Opera”. So I broke down and listened to the whole “Salome” just to give it a chance. I was able to hear some of the musical innovation Ross writes about, but I have to give it another few go-rounds to get into the storyline – it’s a pretty fascinating work from a historical as well as philosophical standpoint. And I’ve barely scratched the surface. But there I was listening to a whole Strauss opera for crying out loud. Wonders never cease.

While I’m digging the journey through the twentieth century in Ross’s book, I’ve been thinking more about Richard Strauss and his music beyond just the pieces discussed there. For some reason I never thought about the juxtaposition of Strauss and Mahler, yet they were contemporaries and quite familiar with each other. It could be argued that Strauss achieved more commercial appeal and popularity, at least in the first half of the century. Mahler seems to have overtaken Strauss, however in the way his music inspires such fervent devotion from fans (Mahler-ites) particularly in the latter half of the twentieth century. Mahler also never lived to witness the disturbing turn of events his country took before and during World War II. Strauss’s passive response to the rise of Nazi-ism in Germany has continued to cast a shadow on his character from a historical point of view (even though his family was also harassed by the lunatic Nazi government). Yet Alex Ross makes an interesting case for Strauss. Consider how the scope of his life stretched from the beginning of Germany’s unification in the 1800s to the post World War II era. What a tumultuous time to have lived through! I reckon a Strauss biography will be on my reading pile in the near future.

For now, I’m making an effort to revisit some Strauss records I’ve listened to in the past as well as trying some new ones. Recently I made the trip down to the Princeton Record Exchange – a bit of a drive for me, but worth the effort every so often. And they’ve got tons of used classical CDs and LPs. Out of the dollar LP section I grabbed this mono LP:

I thought it was pretty interesting pairing Byron Janis with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony on RCA. I have a Janis record on Mercury with Dorati conducting the Minneapolis Symphony. Didn’t know he recorded with the Chicago. Plus the title of the Strauss piece caught my eye – “Burleske”. According to the liner notes, this is the only time Strauss wrote an extended piece for piano and orchestra as a standalone work. It was composed early in the composer's life - 21. As such, it is an interesting combination of elements from the past that look toward the future. Although it is not one of his more well known pieces it has caught my ear enough for several repeat airings over the last few days. There’s a great tympani part that runs through the piece as a theme (and I like tympani). I also get the feeling that this was Strauss’s attempt at a tribute of sorts to Franz Liszt since the climactic ending is highly reminiscent of Liszt’s volcanic piano pounding! But “Burleske” is not all Romantic Era histrionics – quiet and near-minimalistic interludes provide contrast to the hurricane-like sections.

I have to give this piece and performance some credit in the appeal department. Yet there is still a slight intangible SOMETHING about Strauss’s music that I can’t figure out yet. Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms – you get a clear sense of what those composers were feeling right off the bat in their music. Strauss is guarded, secretive – slow to reveal himself (even in more popular works like “Also Sprach Zarathustra” – as emotive as that is I fall short of believing just how much it reflects Strauss’s inner person). No matter. Life is full of mysterious ambiguity and weirdness. If music didn’t reflect this somehow we’d all be listening to Kenny G. and Michael Bolton, wouldn’t we?

I've been doing a LOT of listening this summer, just not a lot of documenting. But there will be more reflections about music courtesy of Mr. Ross's fine book in the future. Until then, Happy Listening!