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Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 In the development and maintenance of the tradition of Russian nationalist music, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov occupies a place of honor. From 1871, when he joined the faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, until his death, he taught and encouraged nearly every young Russian composer, from Glazunov and Arensky to Stravinsky and Prokofiev. After the death of Borodin and Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov edited, completed and “corrected” their manuscripts, especially their operas, and had them published. He also helped publish the works of many other less famous Russian composers. Rimsky-Korsakov was particularly fond of “ethnic” pieces, creating compositions with Russian, Central Asiatic, Italian and Spanish castes. In spite of the fact that his acquaintance with Spain was minimal – as a naval cadet in 1864-65, he spent three days in Cadiz – he felt sufficiently comfortable with its folk idiom to compose the symphonic suite Capriccio espagnol. The work started life as a movement in a planned fantasia for violin and piano, but during the summer of 1887 he abandoned the idea, completely revising and orchestrating the sketches. He borrowed the themes and harmonies from a collection of authentic Spanish songs, transforming them with multi-textured orchestration. From its premiere in October 1887, it has been a particular favorite among orchestra players, who get hefty solo riffs. The five movements begin with: “Alborada” (a Spanish morning song)  , which serves as a kind of musical glue to give unity to the piece. There follows a set of five variations, which are more variations in mood than bravura showpieces. The “Scene and Gypsy Song,” features a series of faux-improvisatory orchestral solos that serve as a workup into to the principal theme. The "Fandango," a couples dance in triple time traditionally accompanied by guitar and castanets, completes the group. At the end a presto reprise of the Alborada returns as the coda. | ||||||||||
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Dawn on the Moskva River (Prelude to the Opera Khovanshchina) Modest Musorgsky, one of the mavericks of nineteenth-century Russian music, left very few completed scores by the time of his early death from alcoholism. Of his meager output, the opera Boris Godunov, some of his songs, the short orchestral score St. John's Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, were completed at his death and have stood the test of time. They now are considered among the highlight of Russian Nineteenth century music. Musorgsky was a proponent of Russian nationalism and a member of the “Mighty Five,” together with Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Their goal was to further the pan-Slavic movement and Russian nationalist music. Musorgsky left his opera Khovanshchina incomplete and unorchestrated at his death. It is a bloody story of intrigue surrounding the ascension to the throne of Peter the Great. Acting as editor and orchestrator, Rimsky-Korsakov finished the score, which was finally premiered in 1886. Musicians and audiences found fault with Rimsky-Korsakov’s efforts, especially with his orchestration and many cuts. Other composers, including Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, tried their hand at completing it but gave up. Finally in 1959, Dmitry Shostakovich brought out a version without cuts that has met general approval. A performance at the Met in 1972 was probably the first full performance ever. The orchestral prelude, describing the dawn over Moscow's Red Square with a view towards the river, has become popular as a separate tone poem, although in the opera the curtain rises after the first 22 bars. Its serene melody contrasts sharply with the bloody action that follows. In Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration, the melody is repeated in a series of beautiful solo opportunities for the upper woodwinds. | ||||||||||
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Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102 Dmitry Shostakovich came from a music-loving family. Upon starting piano lessons – admittedly with extreme reluctance – at age nine, he immediately displayed a level of innate talent, including perfect pitch and, a nearly “photographic” musical memory. At 13 he entered the Leningrad Conservatory, unsure whether he wanted to become a pianist or composer. However conditions were so dire at the dawn of the Soviet regime that the slight, nearsighted prodigy suffered from anemia and malnutrition, despite special food rations for talented students. In December 1925 Shostakovich composed his First Symphony as a graduation project for a composition class. The premiere in May 1926 by the Leningrad Philharmonic, created a sensation and it became clear that his future was in composition. But he was also an outstanding pianist and in 1933, on his return to the concert platform after a lengthy hiatus, he composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 for his own use. In the intervening years he had composed his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which a few years later caused him so much grief with the authorities when Stalin himself decided it was decadent and “ugly.” Twenty-four years later Shostakovich wrote a second Piano Concerto, this time as a birthday gift for his 19-year-old son Maxim, then a piano student at the Moscow Conservatory. Maxim performed the premiere in 1957, but his interest in the piano waned and he became a respected conductor and noted interpreter of his father’s music. The Concerto has much of the charm and sense of fun, but little of the humor and bite of its older sibling. It avoids excessive virtuosity, with the piano and orchestra complementing rather than competing with each other. Characteristic of much of Shostakovich’s fast-paced orchestral movements is the almost frenetic sound of the upper winds, which in his later symphonies became symbolic of the Stalinist regime or even Stalin himself. The first movement begins with a jaunty wind introduction and military march by the piano and a snare drum tattoo. Unlike the usual pattern in concerti, the piano introduces all the themes, including this less percussive second theme, then providing a complex counterpoint as the orchestra repeats them. The piccolo over a high wind ensemble has a central role as foil for the piano. But when the orchestra becomes too dominant and dramatic, the piano repeats the motive as a delicate solo. The second movement Andante, in its tender, lyrical melodies, recalls the late nineteenth century Russian Romantics, especially Rachmaninov, in the first theme, or even Chopin in the second. Neither the orchestra nor the piano ever raises its voice above a whisper. It is less dissonant that the outer movements and adheres to the composer’s pattern of creating heartfelt and melancholy central movements (a practice in which he followed Mozart).The Allegro third movement follows without pause, introduced by a rollicking theme on the piano harking back to the playful mood of the first movement, and another percussive refrain. Some of the intricate scales and arpeggios come, according to the composer, from an exercise book and were included “…as the only way I could make Maxim practice them.” The eager, brilliant tone and brisk and cheerful tempi are the probable reason that Disney artists chose excerpts from this concerto to use in the "Steadfast Tin Soldier" segment of the movie Fantasia 2000. | ||||||||||
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Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10 Sergey Prokofiev was a composer caught between two cultures. Born into an affluent and musical family, he left the Soviet Union in the summer of 1918, shortly after the 1917 revolution. For the next eighteen years he toured the United States and lived in Paris, then in the mid-1930s returned to his native country, never to leave again. This is "my first more-or-less mature composition, both in conception and realization,” Prokofiev wrote about his First Piano Concerto. Composed in 1911 while he was still a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and premiered in the following year, the Concerto marked Prokofiev's first public performance with orchestra. Its spiky dissonances and unromantic tone clashed with the taste of the prevailing musical establishment, and the critics and audience were sharply divided in their opinions. Two years later Prokofiev defied his teachers in using the Concerto – rather than an established work from the repertory – to win the coveted Anton Rubinstein piano prize. The composer commented cynically that most of the 20 judges would be unfamiliar with the work and would, therefore, be hard-pressed to judge his performance. The conservative Alexander Glazunov, who headed the Conservatory, was furious, commenting that to promote such compositions would only encourage "harmful trends." The Concerto is in one continuous movement, but in three distinct sections, similar to Liszt's concertos. Like many nineteenth century works, it is also cyclical, the opening theme serving at the end as the closing theme of the entire work. The thematic structure shows the composer’s fondness of wide leaps and angular melodies that he deliberately conceived to demonstrate his pianistic prowess. & & A short Andante middle section sounds like nineteenth century Romantic concertos with lots of "wrong" notes. The final movement returns to the pianistic display mode of the opening. Considering that the romantic concertos and symphonies of Rachmaninov and Scriabin were the popular works at the time, the Concerto's harmonies came as a shock. Today, 90 years later, the music sounds quite tame to our ears. | ||||||||||
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Capriccio italien, Op. 45 Escaping his home surroundings and traveling in Western Europe was one of the ways Tchaikovsky fought his frequent bouts of depression. He loved Italy in particular, and in early 1880, during the Carnival in Rome, he found himself in a hotel next door to some army barracks. Worries about his siblings and niece dampened his spirits and he was unable to sleep. The constant noise of the carnival, which he saw as a “wild folly,” annoyed him and he was reluctant to participate in the festivities. But he could not escape the melodic richness that surrounded him. In spite of his misgivings he sat down to compose the folksy Capriccio italien, in which he made use of these “...wonderful melodies I happened to pick up, in part from published collections and in part out in the street with my own ears.” He finished the sketches in a week and the orchestration by May. The work was premiered in Moscow in December of the same year. The Capriccio opens with the brass fanfare, which Tchaikovsky heard every day from the adjacent barracks, answered by the strings with a melancholy theme picked up through street musicians. He introduces one catchy theme after another in increasingly colorful orchestration. The refrain of the song that comprises the predominant theme, “Bella ragazza dalla treccia bionda,” (Pretty girl with the blond braid) states: "Papa won't let us, and neither will Mama, so how are we going to make love." The brass fanfare and melancholy string theme return before the piece ends in a brilliant tarantella, a rapid dance in 6/8 time, supposedly originating in the Southern Italian city of Taranto. Capriccio italien can actually be regarded as a musical postcard. Tchaikovsky begins with the trumpet (or bugle) signals from the nearby army barracks. Only then does he get into the street songs, and finally the carnival. A long buildup with a somewhat more Spanish than Italian flavor finally gives over the “Bella ragazza” melody on a pair of oboes accompanied by basses and tuba. As if to keep the musical momentum going, Tchaikovsky avoids the final phrase – and thus the cadence– of the song and repeats the tune in the violins. Tchaikovsky’s second melody reinforces the suspicion that the carnival may have been from the South of Italy, which had for centuries been part of Spain until the Risorgimento (reunification of Italy) in 1861. Add to that the tarantella that concludes the suite. | ||||||||||
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| Copyright © Elizabeth and Joseph Kahn 2010 | ||||||||||
