Llewellyn Series War And Peace 2022

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Simon Hewett - Conductor
Kristian Chong - Piano
Canberra Symphony Orchestra

STRAUSS
Metamorphosen

MALCOLM WILLIAMSON
Piano Concerto No. 2

BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55 'Eroica'

Strauss conceived his Metamorphosen as a threnody for Germany's musical culture in the wake of the Second World War. Twenty-three string soloists voice distinct lamentations that culminate in a tour de force of orchestral desolation. And yet, the title - borrowed from the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - holds a seed of hope for renewal.

Metamorphosen quotes an earlier funeral march, from Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony. Originally dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven famously struck the inscription from the score and offered it instead 'to the memory of a great man'.

Depths of idealism and disillusionment are held in the harmonic climax, as the music climbs to a high point of tension. Beethoven had hoped Napoleon would inspire an egalitarian Europe; with a powerful dissonance based on F major, the composer issues his own call to revolution, condemning greed and lust for power.

These works of raw intensity find a peaceful counterpoint in Malcolm Williamson's Second Piano Concerto. Composed over just eight days, Williamson described the piece as 'an overtly Australian work aiming at spontaneity and vigour rather than profundity.' Tuneful and exuberant, the concerto reflects the composer's eclectic influences, from Stravinsky and Bartók to Gershwin and Elgar.

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