Just a year before his passing, Richard Strauss composed “Four Last Songs” — a beautifully crafted, contemplative study on the inevitability of death.
As performed by soprano Christine Brewer at Boettcher Concert Hall on Friday, the songs cast an aura of peace and tranquility over a seemingly spellbound audience. In close artistic alignment with Jeffrey Kahane, music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the renowned Straussian singer projected the lyricism of the songs above an intimate atmosphere of poetry and evocative orchestration.
Although she apparently was suffering from a cold, Brewer’s rich, cultured voice easily carried the dark-timbred pieces, from “Spring” and “September” through “In Evening’s Glow.”
As Kahane set just the right pulse and pace, Brewer captured each emotionally laden motif with heartfelt understanding. Especially exquisite was her affecting interpretation of “Before Sleeping” — her delivery of Hermann Hesse’s following prose elicited a deeply soulful yearning:
“And the soul, unobserved
wants to hover in free flight
in order to live deeply, a thousandfold,
In night’s magic circle.”
Also impressive in Strauss’ farewell to life, love, pain and joy were concertmaster Yumi Hwang-Williams’ solo passages, and the piccolos in “Evening’s Glow.”
The concert opened with Beethoven’s Overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus.” From its stately opening, Kahane led the CSO through its vivid, dramatic themes with great spirit and a sense of improvisation.
The second half of the program was dedicated to Brahms’ far more weighty, stormy Symphony No. 1 in C minor.
Here, the CSO let loose a terrific torrent of contrasting harmonies, and a medley of duple and triple meters. The two inner movements propelled the work forward into the contentious finale movement. Kahane’s forceful direction laid out a battle of sorts — a striving for something bigger, something grander. That goal was eventually achieved as the symphony climaxed in a mighty affirmation that brought the audience to its feet.
Kudos to timpanist William Hill and the principal players of the bassoon, clarinet, horn, oboe and string sections who all delivered skillful performances in solos throughout the symphony. The program repeats tonight at 7:30.
