Houston Symphony Orchestra– 06/01/24

This evening at Jones Hall, music director Juraj Valčuha led the Houston Symphony in the first concert of their Richard Strauss Festival. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen was soloist in Strauss’s Four Last Songs. Also featured was An Alpine Symphony.

The concert began with Strauss’s Träumerei am Kamin (Dreaming by the Fireplace), one of four Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo, a comic opera first performed in 1924. Placed between the fifth and sixth scenes of the First Act, the Interlude’s tranquil nature lies in contrast to the opera’s main theme of domestic quarreling– a thinly disguised reference to Strauss’s own tempestuous marriage to Pauline de Ahna, a famous soprano. Using a reduced string section, Valčuha ushered in the syncopated second violin rhythm followed by soft cello and English horn melodies. As the music unfolds, the violins join the celli, then violas and clarinet. Valčuha maintained the indicated soft dynamics while drawing out sensitive and sonically expressive playing. Following Strauss’s masterfully scored orchestration, Valčuha built the dynamics to a climax, then gradually died away. While not a typical concert opener, the piece set the stage for the next piece.

Strauss’s Four Last Songs are considered some of the most beautiful and sublime music ever written. Written a year before his death, they are sensuous and nostalgic. It is not uncommon to have performances met with tears. Tonight’s performance elicited dry-eyed admiration.

Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony made an outstanding recording of the Four Last Songs with Renée Fleming 25 years ago. Tonight’s soloist, soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen recorded the Four Last Songs just over a year ago with Andris Nelsons leading the Gewandhausorchester. Tonight she read her part from a music stand, a possible sign of insecurity. Hermann Hesse wrote the text for the first three songs. In the first, “Spring,” he writes “A shudder runs through my limbs at your blissful presence.” Given Willis-Sørensen’s rather dark-sounding interpretation, it would seem to be a shudder of apprehension rather than anticipation.

The second song, “September,” speaks of yearning for rest and growing weary. Here, her voice was less audible in the lower register, compounded by balance issues with the orchestra. With the third song, “When Going to Sleep,” Willis-Sørensen sang with more tenderness and emotional involvement. The gorgeous ascending melody, first introduced by solo violin, showcased the considerable power and silvery quality of her upper register. Unfortunately, Willis-Sørensen tended to punch those high notes without sufficient preparation to preserve the melodic line.

The fourth song has text by Josef von Eichendorff. Titled “At Sunset,” it says “soon it is time for sleep,” “loneliness,” “silent peace,” “how tired we are,” and finally, “death.” Strauss quotes his own tone poem Death and Transfiguration at the end. With the vocal part written primarily in the lower register, a softer accompaniment would have been preferable, and a slower tempo would have informed the text. Willis-Sørensen carries with her an extraordinary vocal instrument that was displayed rather unevenly this evening. Her prodigious talent invites repeat hearings.