r epertoir e r epertoir e

Left alone

Tully Potter Collection

Mark Bebbington
O
f all the works for piano mood and atmosphere are often striking.
left hand associated with Paul One of Sinfonias principal themes (Bubis
discusses a little- Wittgenstein (the concert pianist
who had the extreme misfortune of losing
theme) is developed throughout. Strausss
publisher was only just safe from copyright
known left hand his right hand when in action on the
Eastern Front during the First World War,
infringement, however, citing the three
bars that drew directly from Sinfonia as an
work by Richard see pp18-23), perhaps the least known are ide fixe rather than a direct quotation!
Although the Sinfonia Domestica was
Strauss that will
the two works he commissioned from
Richard Strauss, Parergon zur Sinfonia a clear inspiration, Strauss also draws

receive a rare Domestica and Panathenenzug.

Both of these works have suffered almost
on several other of his works, often in
the subtlest of transformations: the

performance at total neglect in the concert hall and on

record, possibly as a result of Strausss
ominipresent C sharp in Parergon is often
cloaked in the same threatening rhythm
Carnegie Hall reticence in writing for solo piano (there
are but a handful of significant works).
as Tod und Verklrung, while further
developments of this motif relate to the
this year However, a collaboration with the
pioneering conductor Leon Botstein and
child theme from Intermezzo and the
forgiveness theme in Arabella. Telling
his American Symphony Orchestra has instances, then, of cross-fertilisation across
Rama Knight

afforded me the opportunity to give a rare Strausss operatic and orchestral works.

performance of Parergon at Carnegie Hall
this October.
The genesis of the work is of interest.
Strauss was first approached by
Wittgenstein to write a concerto for him
when he was a guest in Wittgensteins
house. Although the idea of such a work
in an abstract idiom didnt greatly interest
Strauss, he agreed to Wittgensteins request
some years later, sparked by domestic
circumstances that had for a time caused
him considerable anxiety.
Strausss son, who was always referred
to by both parents as Bubi, had recovered
from a serious illness and Strauss decided
to fulfill Wittgensteins commission with a
concerto-type work inspired by his return
to health. Towards the end of January 1925,
Strauss had completed the work not a
conventional concerto, but a substantial
work nonetheless and Wittgenstein
premiered it the following October in
Dresden under Fritz Busch.
The strange title gives an inkling of
the association with Strausss Sinfonia
Domestica tone poem. Parergon in its true
sense means an offshoot or, in this context,
a companion work. Although it doesnt
match the earlier work in its happy
evocation of family life, the parallels in
T
he work is in five sections,
but Strausss working out of motivic
cells and rhythmic fragments
is at such a concentrated level that any
feelings of structural disunity are instantly
dispelled. The cells are centred around the
gravitational key centres of F sharp/C sharp
and F natural (the former representing a
threat to Bubis convalescence, the latter a
return to full health).
The onus on the composer to write in
an idiom that combines the virtuosity of
two hands with a kaleidoscopic range of
keyboard colour and textures calls for a
real compositional sleight of hand; Ravel
is probably supreme in this regard, his left
hand concerto representing one of the
pinnacles of 20th-century piano repertoire.
Its uncertain whether Strauss consulted
Wittgenstein over the highly specialised
nature of solo left hand piano writing,
but the repeated parallel semiquaver
chords towards the close of the work
show a startling kinship with Ravels left
hand concerto at this very point. Ravels
concerto was commissioned shortly after
the completion of Parergon, so perhaps
Ravel had seen the Strauss score courtesy
of Wittgenstein?
Few pianists would disagree that
arduous single line textures place keener
demands on left hand articulation than
equally florid writing shared between
the hands. Theres a relentless quality
to the piano writing towards the close
of Parergon and when matched against
the gloriously full orchestral sound,
the soloist must fight hard to be heard.
Strausss beloved use of an encompassing
vocal line in his operas translates here
into widely arching hand spans that are
largely impossible to manage in one
single lateral gesture. Multiple hand
movements are called for in order to
manage the leaps successfully.
Strauss makes few concessions to the
soloists reduced weight of tone nor,
indeed, to his stamina. With the exception
of the introduction, which includes the
nursery tune from Sinfonia Domestica,
and one or two moments of respite in the
finale, the piano plays constantly and for
much of the time battles against a thick
and elaborate orchestration with
arpeggiando passage-work and torrents of
consecutive octaves.
The physiology of the body has to adapt
to continuous left hand use, too; the torso,
for example, needs to shift well towards
the upper register of the keyboard in
order to negotiate the passagework from a
central pivotal position. Strausss greatest
demands on the player are hammered-
out extended chordal passages involving
quick changing hand positions and
requiring a degree of forearm stamina
and extensive continuous semiquaver
patterns that necessitate highly developed
finger articulation, particularly for the
Although the Sinfonia
Domestica is a clear
Although the Sinfonia
Domestica is a clear
inspiration, Strauss
also draws on several
other of his works
weaker third and fourth fingers. These
make punishing demands and aside from
its musical merits, Parergon could well serve
as a fine obligatory left hand study for
advanced students at conservatoire level.
Mark Bebbington performs Parergon zur
Sinfonia Domestica by Strauss on 15 October
at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein

24 International Piano July/August 2014 July/August 2014 International Piano 25