Richard Strauss – Metamorphosen (with score)
Arranged and performed by Iain Farrington
Published by Aria Editions: https://www.ariaeditions.org/store/c74/Strauss%2C_Richard.html
http://www.iainfarrington.com
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed Metamorphosen from August 1944 to March 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. It was originally conceived for 7 solo strings, and a short score exists for the work in this form. He was commissioned by Paul Sacher from the Basler Kammerorchester and Collegium Musicum Zürich for a string orchestra piece. Strauss re-worked the septet for 23 solo strings, and described it as a study titled Metamorphosen.
Although Strauss never explained any meaning behind the work, it is thought to be a response to the destruction of Germany’s cities during the war, including many buildings that Strauss knew and loved, such as the Munich Opera House. There is an overwhelming feeling of lamentation and a crushing of any optimism. The music consists of a small group of themes that are combined and reworked throughout the piece. In the final bars, Strauss quotes the funeral march from Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, with the marking ‘In memoriam!’. This could be seen as a lament to the death of culture in humanity’s darkest hour.
This arrangement for solo piano was made in 2001 as a way of studying the work. It is not just a literal transcription of the notes onto two staves, but a transformation into pianistic texture of the string sound.
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will you do alpine symphony?
BOW DOWN THIS IS THE MODERN MASTER OF PIANO SOLO TRANSCRIPTION LISZT WOULD BE MIGHTY PROUD
Wow thank you SO MUCH for uploading one of my favorite pieces. May I also ask you to do Verklate nacht?
Dear Iain,
I just received a piano transcription of Metamorphosen yesterday shipped from UK, and I just opened YouTube app trying to find a Meta to play. Then I see that your uploaded your fabulous work just 4 hour ago. What a coincidence! Cheers.
THE GOAT OF PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS
Thanks for making this transcription and offering it for a reasonable price. 😁
Enharmonic ftw
Wow! Great! Thank you!
Amazing to compose this at 80 AND in the horror of Germany 1944-5. Your fine transcription makes it easier to track Strauss' harmonic twists and turns.
Really wondeful!!!
dude this is amazing. one of my favorite pieces ever
This is a crazy coincidence
I was also in the process of learning a transcription of Metamorphosen
Respect, mr Farrington, for this incredible performance! The quote of Beethoven's funeral march begins already in bar 10, and many times through the peece.
Great work!
Played brilliantly-
no doubt. BUT ruminating thru every deceptive cadence ever invented left me asking WHY? I wish to find MELODY-nor evert evasive tactic to evade it.Sólo se me ocurre un adjetivo para calificar lo que acabo de oir: APOTEÓTICO.
Wow this is amazing
Absolutely wonderful transcription and beautifully played. You can hear the incredible harmonic shifts more clearly on the piano.