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Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35 1878 Allegro moderato Canzonetta: Andante Finale: Allegro vivacissimo True to his word, Tchaikovsky’s opening movement only pays lip-service to the principles of sonata-form. We can recall Tchaikovsky’s unbounded enthusiasm for Mikhail Glinka’s brief orchestral Fantasy Kamarinskaya (1848), which Tchaikovsky likened to the acorn from which the great oak tree of Russian music would grow; Tchaikovsky decorated his themes accordingly, rather than following the Austro-German principle of thematic development. FAMOUS OPENING Like the First Piano Concerto, the work Starts with a theme that will play no part in the rest of the Concerto, although this introduction is much briefer than that famous opening gambit. The Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s reflections on her role in the Concerto (as written in an open letter to her conductor in her recent recording of the work) are particularly apt: Would you like to know what I am when the concerto begins? An observer. I stand outside on the Street in the cold winter, breathing onto the frozen windowpane. Through a small chink in the hoar frost I spy glittering candelabras, evening gowns, uniforms, colours, splendour and haughtiness. The violin’s opening notes are like the first Steps of a charming young debutante. She’s unsure of herseif, bashful, agitated, and at first she almost slips and falls. But slowly, very slowly, she gains in confidence. Gradually she Starts making jokes and begins to take wing, a lithe, pure, half-childlike creature, yet soon to be the supreme belle du bal, caught in the delirium of a waltz. In this first movement one must probably be several things in a row and all at once: a fluttery ballerina, a dashing officer, a seductive beauty, a fiery dancer and lover, Tatyana and Onegin. This is unmistakably Russian in character and brings to life a celebratory folk dance at the start... Like Mendelssohn’s Concerto, the cadenza is placed in the middle of the movement and Kopatchinskaja speaks amusingly of it treating US: to a hiccough and indecent natural noises, the horrified grimace of a shocked critic, to a kiss on the heels of a feline Violinist. The central Canzonetta opens with an octet for wind setting the scene for the tentative song on muted violin. This leads to a second musical idea which sounds slightly more optimistic in tone but we then return to the haunting original tune, lovingly decorated by accompaniment on flute and clarinet. A bridge passage then takes us directly into the sudden outburst that opens the Finale. This is unmistakably Russian in character and brings to life a celebratory folk dance at the start and then comprising two further main ideas: the first of these themes is introduced over a drone pedal and droll bassoon accompaniment, the final theme is introduced briefiy by duetting oboe and clarinet and is more introspective in mood. These three ideas then dominate the rest of the movement but there is no doubting which theme will eventually win the day as the work moves inevitably to its happy conclusion. www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk
