This is one of Straus’s most famous works that starts with an iconic opening that has been used to decorate many advertisements and films over the last few decades. The opening starts with cellos that are in C humming and resonating along until the famed trumpet parts take over the iconic notes of the opening. It is derived from a symphonic poem, an art form which Strauss and his contemporaries were famous for. Cue the brass (trumpets, french horns, and trombones) to start on a C and do open fifths to a certain height and come to chords for their climaxes. Follow this with strings that chromatically go up to the hilt of a ceiling we don’t know about. Then the texture thins out in the strings in B major and calms itself. Then an oboe appears out of nowhere and recites the first few notes of the opening theme and leads to a brief passage of E minor exploration and then goes back to the high-ranking chromatic activity.
Then comes a great climax in the later movements complete with English Horn solos and other parts that are really good for the soul. It’s a tremendous piece that is chromatically and harmonically all over the map which is why it is so bright and fascinating. Strauss is truly one of the last gasps of the Romantic Era heading towards Schoenberg.
