w This five note motif appears towards the end of the last of Strauss’ Four Last Songs, his setting of Eichendorff’s poem Im Abendrot (At Sunset). It’s played at the moment – the final line of the poem – when the singer asks ‘Ist dies etwa der Tod?’  (Is this perhaps death?) The motif is […]

Of all the works in the standard orchestral repertoire, the opening that you see above – it’s Strauss’ Don Juan – must rank very high on a list entitled ‘Beginnings that Make Conductors Wake at Dead of Night in a Cold Sweat’. As you can see, it’s marked Allegro molto con brio (very fast and energetic) […]