Cover image: Thomas Dausgaard with Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Photo: SSO)
Thomas Dausgaard wraps up his Seattle Symphony guest performances for this season with this weekend’s Richard Strauss program, comprising just two works: the “Vier letze Lieder” (“Four Last Songs”) and “Eine Alpensinfonie” (“Alpine Symphony”). The songs truly were Strauss’s “last,” his final compositions at the age of 84, still at the height of his powers, the year before he died.
In a program note Dausgaard mentions that he recently conducted Strauss’s opera Salome with an exceptional singer in the title role, Gun-Brit Barkmin, and was so taken with her affinity for Strauss’s music that he asked her to perform the Strauss songs here.
It took only a few measures of hearing to realize this is a truly thrilling voice. German soprano Barkmin, 45, is not a big woman, but her voice is huge, soaring effortlessly over the equally big orchestra, never sounding brassy, strained or edgy but with a warmth which matched the music, and an expressivity which matched the words. It’s a sound to bask in.
The poetry of the songs, by Hermann Hesse for the first three and Joseph Eichendorff for the last, must have appealed to Strauss in the twilight of his life. They aren’t nostalgic, the first remembering spring, the next early fall, the third a quietening down, and the last very personal, anticipating peace and tranquility at the close.
Since Barkmin’s voice was easily heard over the orchestra at full double forte, Dausgaard never had to hold back on the eloquence of the music, but let it flow fully. The audience could hear the joy in “Spring,” almost hear leaves dropping and then the effective dimming of the light towards the end of “September.” Barkmin’s nuanced rise and fall towards the end of “When falling asleep” was echoed in the long violin solo beautifully played by acting concertmaster Cordula Merks. The snippets of birdsong came through clearly in the final song,” At Sunset,” with its serene look to the future. The whole work was so vivid it could almost have been painted. Barkmin was brought back for an encore: Strauss’s “Morgen,” which fit perfectly with what had gone before, and was equally beautiful.
Despite being only 25 minutes long, this work was so rich it could have sent listeners home satisfied, but there was more to come. Strauss’s “Alpine” Symphony describes a hike, such as he took in his teens up and down a mountain, in 21 detailed segments from dawn to night, through forest, beside water, across ice, through mists and then a storm, finally sunset and the end of the hike.
It’s a long work for the orchestra, 47 minutes without pause, full of melody and details like the stream and waterfall, the rain with thunder, lightning, and the birds. Dausgaard had a score in front of him but he rarely turned a page, seemingly everywhere with his glance and his arms, directing with his whole body. One moment he (a tall, rangy guy) was towering above the orchestra, arms held high as though about to pounce, at others with dagger fast pointing to different sections, or gently wafting the melody along. The orchestra responded with a dynamic and colorful a reading to match their conductor.
Many orchestra soloists or groups shone: oboist Mary Lynch, flutist Jeffrey Barker, trumpeter David Gordon, concertmaster Merks, the horns, the winds, the harps, the brass and all the strings, at the end all recognized by Dausgaard who himself was given a thunderous ovation, the orchestra members remaining seated to give him the credit, before standing themselves.
