Strauss - Metamorphosen (piano solo)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed Metamorphosen in 1944-5, towards the end of the Second World War. He was commissioned by Paul Sacher from the Basler Kammerorchester and Collegium Musicum Zürich for a string orchestra piece. Strauss re-worked an existing 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. In the final bars, Strauss quotes the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, with the marking 'In memoriam!'.
This arrangement for solo piano is not just a literal transcription of the notes onto two staves, but a transformation into pianistic texture of the string sound.