Ed Zubrow

>Not exactly a tone poem, but I wonder what people may think of Strauss'
>Burlesque.  I really like it, and don't know why it is dismissed as
>juvenilia.

I have enjoyed its exuberance and rhythms since I was young enough
to be impressed at how many tympani it requires!  It is perky, upbeat,
and unpretentious, all qualities I admire in music as in people.  What
I tend not to admire is dismissing any work a composer is not ashamed
to see performed; and attempts to label any work as a composer's worst
accomplishment.  If you don't like it, don't listen to it twice, is my
advice.  Any work--even a "lesser" piece-- takes a lot more work, talent
and time to write than to hear.

Jim Tobin