5th Symphony Concert

In "Death and Transfiguration," the 26-year-old Richard Strauss intended to depict "the hour of death of a man who had strove for the highest ideals—hence, presumably, of an artist." The heroic "transfiguration theme," which embodies these ideals, was borrowed by film composer John Williams for his soundtrack to "Superman." The trumpet concerto by Johann Georg Neruda, a Bohemian composer of the 18th century, is in the "heroic key" of E-flat major...