Piotr ilyich tchaikovsky

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

However, so sure was the composer about his creation that upon Rubinstein's gentler admonitions to completely revise the concerto, Tchaikovsky yelled, "I shall not alter a single note. I shall publish the work exactly as it is." - which he did. The determined composer then sent his concerto to Hans von Bülow, who found it "original, noble and powerful." On October 25, 1875, under the direction of Benjamin Johnson Lang, Bülow took the concert world by storm when he presented the work in Boston with unprecedented success. Tchaikovsky conducted the Russian premiere just a few weeks later. After this, Rubinstein reconsidered his position, recognizing the concerto for the masterpiece it is, and added it to his repertoire, playing it quite often throughout Russia. The rift that had ensued between Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein was eventually repaired and, later on, the composer did make a few revisions to the score, primarily in the solo passages.

The first movement begins with a lengthy - 106 measure long - introduction marked Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso. At the outset, the horns present a four-note descending motif, punctuated by sharp chords from the rest of the orchestra. The piano then enters with a long series of chords, as the violins play an impassioned theme based on the opening motif. Eventually, the first movement proper, Allegro con spirito, arrives as the piano introduces the main theme with minimal support from the orchestra. One of Rubinstein's criticisms was that he found this an unseemly theme to ennoble by incorporating it into a piano concerto; the theme is derived from a Ukrainian folksong commonly sung by blind beggars. The somewhat more relaxed and stately second theme begins with an ascending scalar motif and ends with descending leaps. Both themes are subjected to a brilliant double exposition, with the exchange of virtuoso and expressive elements and argumentative tension between soloist and orchestra. The soloist has plentiful occasion to shine with its many ornate and rhapsodic passages and several demanding cadenzas.

The contrasting second movement, Andantino semplice, takes the form of a scherzo, but in reverse - instead of the normal fast-slower-fast pattern, a soulful episode surrounds a jaunty middle section. It begins with a tender love theme played by a solo flute against pizzicato strings, and then taken over by the piano. After a contrasting phrase is heard, the oboe once again takes the main melody. Then the piano embarks on a frolicsome scherzando episode marked Allegro vivace assai. Although it does so at first by itself, soon the violas and cellos join in with a melody of their own - the French song Il faut s'amuser, danser et rire ("One must have fun, dance and laugh") which was a favorite of Désirée Artôt, to whom the composer was briefly engaged. After an ingenious reference to the first movement's second theme, the soloist plays a short cadenza that leads into the main love theme once again to conclude the movement.

The last movement, Allegro con fuoco, is built upon a rondo structure with elements of sonata form. After a few introductory measures from the orchestra, the piano presents the main recurring theme; this assertive mazurka-like theme is derived from yet another Ukrainian folksong. Two other subjects come into play here: one is of great significance and bears a syncopated dance rhythm; the other is of a subsidiary nature and gentler in character. The two principal themes are freshly emphasized within a different context each time they are repeated. At the coda, now in the major key, the subsidiary theme finally attains its full import. Then, with minimal intervention from the orchestra and in a flurry of virtuoso playing, the piano rushes to the work's exhilarating conclusion.

 1994 Columbia Artists Management Inc.

Rimsky-Korsakov is primarily known today for three orchestral works: Scheherazade, Capriccio espagnol, and the Russian Easter Festival Overture. While these three works are thoroughly striking and brilliantly orchestrated, many musical authorities consider his operas to be Rimsky-Korsakov's most important works and the ones where his genius shone the brightest.

In his opera The Tsar’s Bride, Rimsky-Korsakov tells the story of Marfa, the beautiful daughter of the Novgorod merchant Sobakin, who is to marry the boyar Likov. However, she has caught the eye of Gryaznoy, one of Ivan the Terrible's bodyguard, the oprichniki. He has sworn that she shall be his. In order to do this, he obtains from Bomely, the Tsar's doctor, a potion with which he intends to destroy her memory. Hurt by being dumped by Gryaznoy, his jilted mistress Lyubasha, aided by Bomely, substitutes another concoction that is to mar her beauty. Marfa drinks the potion.

In the meantime, according to royal custom, Ivan the Terrible has been seeking secretly to select a bride for himself. After seeing the beautiful Marfa, he chooses her. When Gryaznoy tells her that Likov, her betrothed, has been executed for attempting to poison her, she goes mad. The opera closes when Lyubasha, confessing to her act, is stabbed by Gryaznoy, who gives himself up to justice.

The libretto is by Il'ya Fyodorovich Tyumenev, based on an outline by the composer drawn from a play by Lev Alexandrovich Mey. Written in 1899, the premiere took place at the Solodovnikov Theatre, Moscow, by the Mamontov Opera on November 3, 1899.

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Among Rachmaninoff's five compositions for piano and orchestra, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, alongside the Second Piano Concerto, is perhaps the most popular. The Rhapsody is unquestionably one of the finest works by the composer, as well as one of the most brilliant and difficult in the entire Romantic concertante repertoire. Structurally, it is a magnificently crafted piece exhibiting a magisterial sense of orchestration; in addition, its thematic content and its expert handling of the same are of the highest order.

The Italian virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) was one of the most fascinating figures of the nineteenth century. In his time, commonly disseminated tales portrayed him as a sorcerer, a seducer of princesses, and even a murderer in the most far-fetched stories; the most popular tale involved his meeting with the devil, whereupon in an unholy pact he sold his soul for fame and glory. It is no wonder that he became the hero of literature, of an operetta by Lehar, and of a ballet. Fictional accounts aside, Paganini developed playing techniques for which violinists today are still indebted to him; he also composed a considerable amount of music, among which several of the five violin concertos and assorted recital pieces for the same instrument have become staples in the repertoire of contemporary virtuosos. In 1805, Paganini wrote a set of Twenty Four Caprices for Unaccompanied Violin, Op. 1. Several years later he composed a set of variations on the last piece of this set; little did he know at the time that his twenty-fourth Caprice would also be the inspiration and originating cell for a number of works by other composers, such as Brahms, Schumann, Liszt and Busoni. Not convinced that the possibilities for development of this melody had been exhausted, Rachmaninoff wrote

his Rhapsody based on his own treatment of Paganini's original theme.

Although Rachmaninoff's work bears the descriptive appellation of "rhapsody" it is in fact a set of twenty-four variations on the theme. These variations are not always exposed in self-contained segments with a clear-cut beginning and equally discernible ending as they grow naturally out of each other in the continuous flow of the proceedings; the gamut of emotions covered during its course is vast, ranging from the dynamic to the lyrical, with rhapsodic interludes and demonic episodes thrown in for good measure.

After a short Allegro vivace introduction based on the principal motif of the theme, Rachmaninoff presents the first variation, rather than presenting the actual theme as it is customary in works of this nature. Further labeled in the score as Precedente, this variation merely consists of a disjointed, skeletal outline of the theme's harmonic frame; a precedent for this unusual procedure was actually established by Beethoven in the "Eroica" variations of the last movement of his Third Symphony.

The piano continues this schematic delineation of the harmonic structure as the actual theme is stated by the violins in unison. This is followed by the second variation with the theme in the piano. The variational proceedings continue without pause, in a torrent of impassioned music. Of note are the seventh and tenth variations where dramatic conflict is present with the curious appearance of the Dies irae, the chant that describes the terror of Judgment Day in the Gregorian Mass for the Dead. This is explained in a letter from Rachmaninoff to the choreographer Fokine who was planning a ballet to the music of the Rhapsody: "Why not resurrect the legend about Paganini who, for perfection in his art and for a woman, sold his soul to an evil spirit? All the variations which have the Dies irae represent the evil spirit....Paganini himself appears in the theme..."

Structurally, the Rhapsody assumes an arch form as if emulating a traditional concerto. After what has transpired, the music now becomes lyrical taking the place of a slow second movement. This phase, which covers variations XI through XVIII, was referred to by the composer as "The Domain of Love." Among these, Variation XII consists of a minuet in which "The Woman" is portrayed. Variation XV provides a Scherzando episode in which the piano plays by itself for twenty-eight measures, and after which the orchestra provides minimal support until the next variation. This middle section culminates with the famous Andante cantabile Variation XVIII; here, the opening motif of the theme is ingeniously inverted, achieving a songful melancholy.

The next series of variations may be said to represent the final movement of this concertante work, as the variations grow increasingly brilliant to the end. The final variation pits the two major themes in a struggle for tonal supremacy; towards the end, only the rhythm of the principal motif and the harmonic structure of the Paganini theme remain, while the Dies irae blares menacingly in the brass. After one final climactic moment

the piano brings the work to its quiet conclusion with the fragmented motif from Paganini's theme.

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was written in 1934 at the composer's villa at Lake Lucerne. The work received its world premiere that same year in Baltimore, with the legendary Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra and the composer at the piano.

© 1995 Columbia Artists Management Inc.

Following the style established by Mikhail Glinka, Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov united in their aim with composers Alexander Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky and Cesar Cui, to create a nationalist school of Russian music. This group of composers, with Balakirev as the mentor of the other four younger composers, was known as "The Five," and later - along with Glinka and Alexander Dargomïzhsky - became known as Moguchaya kuchka ("The Mighty Handful") in recognition of their nationalist efforts to maintain their musical "independence" from the basically Germanic, Western European conservative approach to composition, of which their contemporary Tchaikovsky and, later, Rachmaninoff were the highest exponents. It should be noted that the conservatives were often influenced by their nationalist counterparts, and in turn Rimsky-Korsakov "borrowed" at times from the German tradition, and eventually absorbed influences from Wagner.

The Cappriccio espagnole, Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Overture were Rimsky-Korsakov's last important purely orchestral works. In the composer's words, these three pieces "close[d] a period of my work, at the end of which my orchestration had attained a considerable degree of virtuosity and warm sonority without Wagnerian influence, limiting myself to the normally constituted orchestra used by Glinka." The orchestral complement of Scheherazade consists of pairs of woodwinds with added piccolo and English horn, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, harp and the usual string choir, as well as an array of percussion instruments, including, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, cymbals, triangle and tam-tam.

Rimsky-Korsakov had always been fascinated by the exotic and colorful, and he wrote the symphonic poem Scheherazade in 1888 after reading the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. The score is prefaced by the following story:

The Sultan Schahriar, convinced of the falseness and infidelity of all women, has sworn to put to death each one of his wives after the first night. The Sultana Scheherazade, however, saved her own life by interesting him in a succession of tales which she recounted over a period of a thousand and one nights. Overcome by curiosity, the monarch postponed from day to day his wife's execution, in the end renouncing his bloody resolution.

Many were the marvels recounted to Schahriar by Scheherazade. For the telling of these, she drew from the verses of the poets and the words of folksongs and tales, connecting her stories one with the other.

The first movement, "The Sea and Sinbad's Ship," begins with a heavy, and forbidding motif in the brass, usually associated with the Sultan Schahriar; this is immediately followed by quiet, pacifying woodwind chords and a sensuous violin cadenza representing the voice of Scheherazade. As the Sultana's first tale unfolds, a rich tapestry of sound is woven from the initial motif, Scheherazade's theme (which is not always restricted to the solo violin) and a rocking theme which suggests the waves beating against Sinbad's ship.

The second movement begins with an expansion of Scheherazade's violin cadenza. She then recounts "The Story of the Kalendar Prince," who is immediately introduced by an exotic theme first played by the noble bassoon in its upper register. In the midst of the musical tale, the Sultan's theme is transformed into a fanfare suggesting the Prince's adventures.

The third movement is the love story of "The Prince and the Young Princess." Each of the two protagonists of this tale is represented with his/her own theme. The similarities between the two themes, however, point to the love that binds them as one. The first violins present the Prince’s gentle theme at length. A solo clarinet presents the Princess’ jauntier, more playful theme. A short restatement of the Prince's theme is interrupted by Scheherazade's theme, after which the two main themes of the movement are heard lovingly interwoven.

The fourth movement begins with an introduction in which the sultan's motif and Scheherazade's theme play off each other. An agitated theme presented by the flute brings us to "The Festival at Baghdad"; soon the rest of the orchestra joins in the excitement. As the tale of the vessel being wrecked on the rocks suddenly encroaches on the previous story, thematic material from the previous movements is developed and interwoven as if trying to condense all the thousand and one stories that Scheherazade tells her husband; this includes the motion-of-the-waves motif from the first movement, the fanfares from the second and the Princess' theme from the third, as well as Scheherazade's theme and the Sultan's motif. As the storm subsides and the seas become calm again, Scheherazade's voice fades away in one final violin cadenza, bringing the work to its quiet and dreamy conclusion.

© 1996 Columbia Artists Management Inc.