Last night I learned (because my daughter was doing an assignment on him) that Richard Strauss (not Johann) lived from 1864 to 1949; I didn't realise he was a 20th century figure.
And this weekend, I get to listen to his An Alpine Symphony, a "tone poem" which my daughter actually likes. (She plays a lot of different composers in her youth orchestra, but seems to not care much for a lot of the pieces selected. She has a particular dislike of Mozart, for some reason.)
I also didn't realise that the 2001: A Space Odyssey piece from Also sprach Zarathustra was just the opening fanfare to a piece that goes 30 minutes.
There is much I do not know...
I’ve really been getting into Strauss lately. An amazing composer - his songs can be heartbreakingly good, with a few simple melodic and harmonic touches. His main fame came from his operas, I gather, so it would be good to set aside time to listen to them.
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