"Roll over Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news."
If Beethoven and Tchaikovsky were in the same graveyard, they would surely be buried at opposite ends of the yard from each other, so different are they. After all the Beethoven diaries of the past few months, how appropriate and relieving it is, then, to open up a work by Tchaikovsky.
First, an appetizer, which I'll talk about below. None But the Lonely Heart, from Six Romances, Opus 6. Eula Beal singing, in English.
[Past diaries about Tchaikovsky include:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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http://www.dailykos.com/... ]
This song was a huge hit in the 'Forties. There are many covers of it I could have posted, by singers like Frank Sinatra and Mario Lanza, overly-wrought, reorchestrated with big bands, etc. I chose this modest and faithful performance because it better reflects the real Tchaikovsky.
With Beethoven, we had monumentalism. Works like the Ninth were etched in stone, like Mount Rushmore. The music was both vertically and horizontally dense, like a NY Times Crossword Puzzle. He was the apex of the classical style.
Way over at the other end of some spectrum, we have Tchaikovsky, whose works were pure emotion. His lines are simpler, and based on melody. He was one of the greatest melodic composers of all time. This was the man, if you could ever forget, that composed the stunningly beautiful themes of the Nutcracker Suite. Beethoven would have hated Tchaikovsky... but he would have envied him terribly his melodic invention. Beethoven criticized himself quite plainly for being unable to compose catchy melodies. His music is great -- but it wasn't melodic.
As the Romantic style dominated the rest of the nineteenth century after Beethoven, the melody became more important as the vehicle for personal expression.
The price, for Tchaikovsky, is that he gets hammered for being too emotional, too heart-on-his-sleeve, too sentimental. I think that's a matter of where you are coming from, when you hear it. His music may be sentimental at times, as in the above clip, but it's not dishonest. And it's always accessible, which means he doesn't get the respect he deserves. That accessibility has mean that his music has been a rich mine for other composers, especially film composers -- like, oh, say, John Williams!
Tchaikovsky was gay. As I mentioned in a previous diary, if the gay particle had mass, Tchaikovsky would have had cosmological implications. You can't surf the Youtube videos of Tchaikovsky without running into homophobic flame wars in the comments. Their have been other gay composers, obviously (like Saint-Saens, like Schubert (maybe), like Bernstein, like Britten, for starters), but none of them seem to inspire the same vitriol about the matter. His gayness isn't irrelevant to his music, though. There's an audible yearning quality to his music. There is a recurring theme of tragic self-destructive love in his choices of material. None but the Lonely Heart had lyrics by Goethe, but Tchaikovsky's choice of this too is telling.
The Violin Concerto in D major, which we'll hear today, isn't as melancholy as his other works. It's full of beautiful melodies and it's constructed to achieve powerful climaxes.
Here is a short promotional clip from the NY Phil of violinist Leonidas Kavakos explaining what it is that makes the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto work so well.
Before we go to the music...
I made a point of analyzing Beethoven's music to be fair to it. It requires it. That's Beethoven. Tchaikovsky is so accessible, though, that it doesn't. You'd really have to be nuts to start dissecting his themes and recurring motifs, things like that. Really nuts. Batshit crazy.
Where to begin...
Real musicians, commence laughing at me. I found a neat little PD program called Musette which allows me to just click and point notes at the screen and play them back, with a tinny piano sound. Just about my speed. If I don't include all the necessary accoutrements to make this look professional, it's because, I figure, why pretend?
I never want or expect anybody to actually READ the music or play anything I post here. I just post it for illustrative music-for-dummies purposes.
The beginning of the main theme of the first movement is the top line. It will appear in a few different forms in the first movement, although it's not very difficult to spot.
The second line is the second theme of the first movement. Hmmm... Now, I know -- none of you (except the laughing ones) can read music. But it doesn't take an NSA analyst to see it and go, Aha! The second line is suspiciously similar to the first line! Yup. Same melody, but recrunched and processed to sound differently.
In fact, you might start to hear this melody all kinds of places. Like -- oh, I don't know -- like when you're watching Star Wars!
I've always thought the most beautiful melody in Star Wars was the Han and Leia love theme.
Beautiful, isn't it? Except... Something nags me. Everytime I try to play that on my recorder or guitar, I mess up and it turns into Tchaikovsky's theme.
In fact... In fact... Hmmm!
What the fuck???? O, members of the Academy, have you been duped? Get your Oscar back while there's still time! Thief! Plagiarist!
(Actually, I'm sure John Williams would acknowledge the similarity and pat himself on the back for doing such a fine job with it.)
I feel redeemed, though. My bad guitar playing technique when I try to play this only reflects my inner musical subconscience whispering, "Shhh... Dude, you've heard this before: It's Tchaikovsky!"
I'll cover the first movement, and if time permits, maybe the second and third. And since this is a traditional Sonata-Allegro form movement, I can haul out my handy-dandy blue graphic.
(For those that don't know what the hell any of that means, try this diary and/or this one too, where we explained it in baby terms.)
I'm going to go with an old 1954 recording with Ivry Gitlis on the violin. Nobody ever does it better than David Oistrakh, but that doesn't mean there aren't a million great ways to do this concerto. The Gitlis version is one of the most eccentrically different that I've heard, and I love it, so no Oistrakh today. For one thing, Gitlis shaves about six minutes off of the work, reducing it from the typical 36 minutes down to less than thirty! There are many sappy performances out there, and I'd rather go, in this case, with an interpretation that is unusually clear and bright with no sloppiness. I hope you love this as much as I do.
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 35, Ivry Gitlis violin, Hans Hollresier conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Complete -- All three movements.
First movement: Allegro moderato
Introduction (0:10 to 1:15)
After a gentle warmup from the strings, the basses raise the tension with a repeating rhythm. The orchestra picks up this tension by repeating a figure based on part of the main theme. As it reaches a mini-climax, the orchestra fades out. At 0:57, the violin makes its beautiful solo entrance, stretching its legs, making greetings, so to speak.
Exposition First theme (1:15)
And ah! Here it is, the main theme. Played very simply, this first time. Repeated again at 1:50, but with more passion.
At 2:15, we get a new fast little theme that acts as a segue, one that begins a series of key changes that propel us towards the second theme. This builds to a mini-climax that relaxes and leads us to...
Exposition: Second theme (3:03)
The second theme from our illustration. The melody is based on the first theme, true, but more romantic, full of yearning. Simply beautiful.
At 4:40, as it tries to reach for its own miniclimax, it butts head against a wall. The violin becomes more agitated, arrhythmic. At 5:03, it gets a clear shot and begins its build-up.
And builds up... And builds up... At 5:20, it has a dramatic series of key changes (by thirds). Still building up! At 5:40, we know we're on the verge of something...
5:46! We get the dramatic march theme (based on the first theme again, of course), but this time with enormous majesty, irresistible rhythm, and a kind of military prowess. This is what you'll go home whistling. Good luck getting that out of your head!
With this, we have reached the end of the Exposition and are ready for the development.
The Development Section (6:17)
As the march ends, the violin fades out, and the orchestra takes the lead, moving us through a series of new keys.
At 6:55, the violin returns (now in C major), giving more order to the proceedings, as it begins a new, highly-oriented variation based on the first theme. Clearly, just listening, you can hear that this is a real test of the soloist. Ivry Gitlis is fantastic here. This is totally different from the way it's usually performed. He keeps this concerto very electrically charged.
At 7:30, we lose our stability begin, as the violin leads us through a new series of key changes, building up tension. Building... Building... !
7:54: Climax: The violin drops out and the march theme returns, glorious! (Now in F major). But even this is not settled, for as it ends, it begins a series of new and yet more tense key changes. At 8:32, it reaches its peak, slamming again and again into that brick wall.
The Cadenza (8:42)
With no resolution, the orchestra fades out and the violin soloist takes over and begins a very long cadenza [a soloist's dramatic and showy exhibition of talent]. In this case, based on the main theme. Gitlis is great here, too.
10:08. Still in the cadenza, the mood changes as the violin takes up the romantic second theme and plays with it, making it more personal and expressive.
At 10:51, the violin settles down, settles some more. Preparing to shift us to...
Recapitulation: First Theme (again) (10:57).
The gentleness of the flute taking up the first theme lets us know we're back on firm ground again. The violin part has been changed, though here, giving it an extra level of yearning this time around.
At 11:52 we begin the segue to the second theme (again).
Recapitulation: Second Theme (again) (12:47)
Like before, but now in the home key. As before, it runs into a wall, but with less tension. At 14:30, we have the buildup again. Building up some more... Chord changes by thirds... At 14:50, as the buildup reaches its peak, we wonder, is The March coming back, because this is where we heard it the first time, before.
Coda (15:01)
Nope. We're in the final stretch of the first movement. As we race towards the finish line and... Full orchestra at 15:40 as the tempo speeds up and they both really DO race!
Ta da!
-------------- SECOND MOVEMENT -------------
I only commit to covering the first movement, because that's all I usually have strength for in one diary. But since the concerto is blessedly complete in this one Youtube clip, I'll try to cover some more.
Canzonetta Andante (Second Movement) (16:12)
After a strange little introduction, at 16:50, the violin introduces the main theme of this short second movement, a classic Tchaikovsky winding melody, melancholy and personal.
At 18:25, we change key and hear a new, more hopeful contrasting melody. I love the way this melody just TRAVELS and keeps going.
At 19:40 the first theme (of this movement) returns, but now with more rhythmic ornamentation.
At 21:00, the intro is repeated. Is the movement over? It seems like it, but something strange is happening, the way it lingers, the way it starts to move to a new key... What's going on here? Actually, by Tchaikovsky's design, the second and third movements are meant to dovetail together.
--------------------- THIRD MOVEMENT -----------------
Third Movement Finale Allegro Vivacissimo (22:18)
Allegro Vivacissimo means fast, the absolute maximum amount of liveliness.
The form here is ABABA, where the A section is fast and aggressive, and the B section is a mix of very contrasting tempos and feelings.
Whoa! The third movement comes in heavy and mean and hard. Is that the way it's going to be?
No! At 23:04, we begin for realsies, and the tone is very fast, energetic, acrobatic. The first theme leaps all over the place.
At 24:00, we have the first alternating section, as the temp slows a bit, and the violin tests out the lower part of its range. But it speeds up and segues, at 24:45, into a new section, a slower, gentler, more sentimental melody.
At 25:47, the tempo picks up again, and we're back to the main, energetic theme of the finale, the A section, this time even more energetic, with strong assist from the orchestra.
At 26:53, the alternating section returns.
At 29:08, the main theme of the finale returns, and it begins its final race for the finish line. Full orchestra!
The End! Bravo to Ivry Gitlis!
Hey, we finished the whole thing in one diary! I'm surprised.
Next Week: Again, I don't want to commit. But at the moment, I think I like this Ivry Gitlis. Maybe we should have another Gitlis violin concerto? Let me know your thoughts.