As of January 3, 2014, this montage will no longer be available on Pod-O-Matic. It can be heard or downloaded from the Internet Archive at the following address / A compter du 3 janvier 2014, ce montage ne sera plus disponible en baladodiffusion Pod-O-Matic. Il peut être téléchargé ou entendu au site Internet Archive à l'adresse suivante:
https://archive.org/details/Pcast134
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English Commentary – le commentaire français suit
For the next few posts (including this coming Tuesday Blog), my focus will be on Tchaikovsky's work for solo instrument and orchestra.For our first montage, I dug deep into my vinyl collection to share with you a couple of recordings that I have come to cherish.
We all remember the American television game show Name That Tune, where contestants were asked to name works after hearing the first few notes. I think there are few pieces of Classical Music that the average contestant on that game show could have identified in a few (less than seven if I recall) notes. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmuisik, and certainly Tchaikobsky's First Piano Concerto.
I stress the first, as Tchaikovsky wrote two, and left us the first complete movement of a third (and sketches of the remaining movements). More on the last two in next week's montage...
The well-known (face it, rather pompous) entry of the First concerto, along with the remaining bars that form the first theme of the movement are not only distinct, but also never repeated and only diagonally alluded to in the remainder of the first movement! For m monety, the remaining two movements of the concerto are far better in form and structure than the more famous first movement.
We all know the story of the composition - and Tchaikovsky playing it for his colleague Nikolai Rubinstein 0- a formidable pianist himself. Turns out Rubinstein was not impressed, but a defiant Tchaikovsky stated to him "I shall not change a single note". Some 150 years later, and after God knows how many gazillion performances, Tchaikovsky was proven right in his decision! The vinyl recording I am offering today comes from the early 1970's and features the then married couple of Martha Argerich as soloist and conductor Charles Dutoit.
Every year, in many corners of the world, there are countless Violin competitions. When the finalists showdown by playing concerti, there's usually a short list of works that are chosen: The Brahms concerto, the Sibelius, and the Tchaikovsky will most certainly be on the program. Tchaikovsky's concerto was composed roughly at the same time as Brahms', and a good few decades before the Finn's, but it is distinctive by the required virtuosity and the high demand on the soloist's stamina. Except for the opening section of the First movement, the soloist is almost always on call.
Few performers manage to execuet the work without getting, ahem, too schmaltzy. But David Oistrakh, probably the dominant Russian violinist of his generation (and probably one of the handful of dominant violinists of his generation, period) manages to perform the work with all the steak, and without much sizzle. Oistrakh, who's career reached its apex at the height of the Cold War, was one of a very select few Soviet-era virtuosi to travel and appear regularly in the West. In the late 1950's and early 60's, he traveled to the US, and recorded the Tchaikovsky with the Philadelphia Orchestra and their legendary conductor, Eugene Ormandy. I have heard Ormandy on record and on television perform the work with many other soloists, and (in his unique way) always did so without a score in front of him - as he did most of his conducting from memory. The meeting of soloist, conductor and orchestra - as you will tell from the montage - is remarkable. I just wish Oistrakh played the repeats in the finale...
As filler, I chose a rendition of the sérénade mélancolique, intended for violin and orchestra, adapted for the cello. It is a bit of a curiosity, but worth listening to.
I think you will love this music too!
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Commentaire français
Nos trois prochains billets (aujourd’hui, mardi et vendredi
prochains) sont dédiés au répertoire concertant de Tchaïkovski: tous les concrti pour piano, le concerto pour
violon et un tas de courtes pièces concertantes pour violon, piano ou violoncelle.
Le montage du B + B d’aujourd’hui propose deux concerti,
extraits de ma collection vinyle. L’enregistrement du premier concerto pour piano (avec Martha Arghrich et Charles
Dutoit) entre ma collection autour de 1978, pendant mes années collégiales et
au début de la longue association entre Dutoit et mon orchestre local, celui de
Montréal.
Il y a des pièces (si vous me permettez l’emprunt de l’anglais)
« icôniques » du répertoire classique, que même l’auditeur passager
reconnaîtra dès les premières mesures : la cinquiième de Beethoven,
la petite musique de nuit de Mozart
et, sans nul doute, le concerto pour piano en si bémol de Tcchaïkovski : l’appel
des cuivres des premières mesures, le spectaculaire martellement du piano, et
un thème d’un romantisme inégalé. Quelques minutes de musique qui terminent
avec une quiétude contrastante et… disparaît pour ne plus jamais revenir (sauf
pour quelquies soupçons ça et là au cours du mouvement initial).
On dit que Tchaïkovski n’était pas un grand pianiste, mais
son confrère Nikolia Rubinstein, lui, étaity un virtuose de premier ordre. Son
invité pour un dîner privé chez lui, Thaîkovski lui exécute son concerto, et
Rubinstein est implacable dans sa critique de cette pièce « vulgaire ».
Le compositeur répondra « je ne changerai pas uine seule note » et,
plus d’un sièle plus tard la notoriété du concerto prouve qu’il avait raison!
Sans doute que la critique de Rubinstein attaquait la forme
et la structure du concerto, incluant l’entrée qui ne rapparaît plus.
Toutefois, les deux autres mouvements sont très en place : le mouvement
lent placide et l’allegro con fuoco du finale.
Le concerto pour violon est l’unique dans le catalogue du
compositeur (hormis sa sérénade
mélancoloque et Valse-Scherzo,
courtes pièces qui sont en évidence dans mon prochain billet). Composé au cours
de la même période que Brahms propose son grand concerto pour violon, ces concerti,
ainsi que celui de Sibelius, forment le trio de concerti les plus entendus en
concert et lors de concours!
En complément,j'ai monté une adaptation pour violoncvelle et orchestre de ladite sérénade.
Bonne écoute!
 | Ce billet est également disponible sur notre nouveau portail L'Idée Fixe. Visitez http://ideefixe-musique.blogspot.com/ |
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