Richard Strauss: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme; Divertimento Op. 86

Both of the pieces presented on this album represent conglomerations of previously published work, but the differences between them are significant. Richard Strauss’s orchestral suite for the revival of Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme consists of music he himself had written during the previous years. However, the Opus 86 divertimento is a suite based on 18th-century keyboard music of François Couperin; for this piece, Strauss took a variety of passages from that music and gave it rich orchestration, creating a sound that is a curious (but very effective) mix of 19th-century Romanticism and baroque delicacy. Strauss’s command of traditional counterpoint is particularly notable here, and this performance of the work by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is especially sympathetic and pleasing – their sound is light, nimble, and colorful.