This week (a bit late, sorry!) we look at one of Strauss' tone poems - Tod Und Verklarung, or Death and Transfiguration in English. Now, from the name, this may have religious connotations, however the Death and Transfiguration referred to here is not to do with Jesus but another, hero-like character. The music evokes a sense of the memory of life followed by some epic transcendental music as the character reaches for the glory of an afterlife. In fact, the music does, by the composer's own design, go through stages of childhood memory, the struggles of adulthood, the meaning and achievements in his life, all while he yearns for transfiguration. Not bad for 24 minutes.
But what I really want to focus on this week is how this tone poem is constructed. This is another piece that I've had the privilege to play, and upon my first hearing before I sat down to play it, much like with last week's piece by Brahms, I was a little confused. 'Where was the tune?' I thought... but then I realised that the tune exists in the harmony, and between the instruments. This is not a piece to necessarily hum along to, but one that acts as a soundtrack to a series of events. It is, by its very nature, programmatic music - and it evokes a listener's own image of what might be happening as the music unfolds. This is due, in part, to the multiple layers of melody, harmony, and rhythm occurring at once which create a programmatic richness, colouring audience perception not necessarily through its musical direction (although this very much exists) but its narrative one. It is this, perhaps, which causes me to liken it to film and television soundtracks today, as there are some very similar moments and actually, the two genres share a great deal of motivations and properties. It even uses motifs in a very similar way.
This is an exceptionally hard piece to play, and yet very effective and beautiful once it comes together, showcasing Strauss' innate ability to understand very profound aspects of both human life and music, coming together to create something that, you might argue, transcends and transfigures the idea of music into something greater...
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