I. Allegro moderato-Vivace II. Andante III. Vivace
For a long time, many believed that 20th Century music should progress unwaveringly along a straight road of development. People had the task of deciding whether a given work was progressive or anachronistic. Looking back, it is blindingly obvious to us now that there was no single achievable goal for music in the 20th Century. There was a multiplicity of styles, directions, compositional techniques, all co-existing in the same span of a hundred years. Richard Strauss (1864-1949) is an excellent example of someone whose career throws the spanner in the work's of over-earnest theorists. After 1910, he had lost his aura as a modernist. But in 1907, two years after the premiere of Salome, and two years away from Elektra, Strauss announced: “I asked myself the question: is there a progressive party in music? I realised ultimately that I should have to answer 'no'.” If we look at the music Strauss composed after the Second World War, we can determine two main tendencies. The first is the marvellous apotheosis-like summary of post-Wagnerian atmosphere, in rarefied, concentrated form. Inspired by thoughts of death, it produced such marvellous music as the Four Last Songs (1948). The other tendency is that of the neo-classical game, which had preoccupied Strauss for many decades. In works like the Duet Concertino (1947) or the Oboe Concerto (1946), we find Strauss picking and mixing from various Eighteenth Century styles. Only a fool would attempt to draw a clear line between the two types of work though. The clear classical form of the Oboe Concerto's movements are combined with economic scoring, and the 80 year old Strauss' still powerful melodic gifts, his discretely sensual world of harmony and gentle humour.