by Daniel Hathaway
This article was originally published on Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Richard Strauss somehow got lost on his way to the 20th century, but his detour was a beautiful one. Still composing — though at a slower pace — into his eighties, he crafted some of the most expressive and memorable Romantic music in the repertory shortly before his death in 1949.
Among those works are the cycle that has come to be called “The Four Last Songs,” inspired by three Hermann Hesse poems in an anthology gifted to the composer, plus an earlier setting of words by Joseph von Eichendorff. All of the poetry is infused with the “autumnal” qualities also to be found in Johannes Brahms.
It was March 20, 2020, when The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst gave their last concert as a complete ensemble before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live performances for more than a year. The Orchestra, with guest conductor Brett Mitchell, returned triumphantly to Blossom Music Center on July 3 and 4 to celebrate Independence Day. I attended on July 4.
