"The writing is so colorful. It’s music of awe and wonder and surprise and beauty and excitement!" ~ Andreas Delfs
When conducting legend Serge Koussevitzky set out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he turned to a Rochester-based composer, Howard Hanson. It was 1930, and many Americans like Hanson and Aaron Copland were finding inspiration in the spaciousness of the American landscape. Hear the result of that commission, Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, The Romantic, as well as Don Quixote, a tone poem by Richard Strauss for cello, viola, and orchestra based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.
Delfs told WXXI’s Julia Figueras, “For me, the most profound moment in all of Strauss writing is the epilogue of Don Quixote. He was, I think, 32 when he wrote this. It baffles me how a 32 year old composer can find that depth.”
Hear more from their conversation On Record.