Page 20 - Phil simply the best program digital version

PROGRAM NOTES

mistakes in the parts). Reviewing the concerto, the often ill-tempered critic Eduard
Hanslick wrote that, “The violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, shredded.
The [second movement] Adagio is on its best behavior. But it breaks off to make
way for a finale that transfers us to the brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian
holiday. We see plainly the savage, vulgar faces; we hear curses, we smell vodka.
Friedrich Vischer once observed, speaking of obscene pictures, that they stink to
the eye. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion
that there can be music that stinks to the ear.” The composer never recovered from
that review.

Now one of the most popular Romantic concertos, the first movement begins softly
with the orchestra playing a lyrical melody (although not the main theme) and brief
introductory fragments of the main theme. After a few meditative bars, the solo
violin dives right into the main theme. Tchaikovsky himself wrote the emotional
solo cadenza before the recapitulation, and it is technically formidable.

The woodwind section opens the second movement in an organ-like chorale with
a pastoral mood, evoking the Swiss countryside where Tchaikovsky composed
the piece. In this movement, there are ample opportunities for subtle rhythmic
manipulation and improvisations through exchanges between the soloist and the
woodwinds. The woodwinds end this movement, as they began, and we continue
into the last movement without a break. After a short introduction where the soloist
plays variations of the main theme, we enter into a fast-paced dash interrupted by
quiet, contemplative asides that enhance the return of dizzying pyrotechnics and a
climactic finish.
— Helios Hong

c
hestr
a
Plymouth Philharmonic Or
18 Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra
18