Die große Reihe – Staunen

Symphony concert by the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra in the Liederhalle

GROFÉ | ,,Grand Canyon"- Suite
STRAUSS | An Alpine Symphony

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Frank Beermann

SUBLIME LANDSCAPES

Ferde Grofé was born in New York and was a bookbinder, truck driver, usher, newspaper boy, typesetter and steelworker in his younger years. He accompanied a dance school on the piano and became a violist with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17. In 1917 he joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra and became the orchestrator of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in blue", which Whiteman premiered in 1924. This collaboration inspired him to write symphonic jazz compositions based on his own life experiences. Grofé's best-known piece, the "Grand Canyon Suite" (premiered by Paul Whiteman in 1931), dates back to his years as a touring pianist. It must have been a very impressive hike!

Richard Strauss' monumental "Alpine Symphony", his last completed tone poem for orchestra (1915), also draws on his own experiences of nature. It depicts a mountain hike from the ascent at dawn to the crossing of various altitude levels (forest, stream, meadows, alpine pastures, undergrowth, glacier) to the summit and the descent (including a fall in the weather) to the return at night. However, Strauss was not only inspired by the sublime mountain world, but also by the thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche and his examination of the tragic life story of the Swiss artist Karl Stauffer-Bern.