Paganini - Violin Concerto No. 3 In E Major

Paganini began making his reputation as early as 1813 before he toured Europe. His reputation was made in tours of his native country of Italy.  His First Violin Concerto was the only one of his own that he performed until he made serious plans to tour Europe in the 1820's.  He rapidly composed two more violin concertos for his planned tour, Number Two in B minor and Number Three in E Major.

Paganini began his European tour in Vienna in 1828 and performed these three concertos to great acclaim. Paganini would distribute the orchestral parts of the concertos only at the last minute and always played his solo part from memory. In those days before copyright, music was constantly being 'pirated' by music publishers with the composer getting nothing in return for their work. Paganini amassed a large fortune from his concert tours, not least of all because he was so secretive with his music.

All three of these concertos follow the same general plan of three movements, as do contemporary works of the genre.  These concertos are Italianate in style, like the music of Paganini's countrymen Rossini and Donizetti. The middle slow movements of the concertos are like short operatic scenes for violin and orchestra, while the first and last movements are more involved.  As Paganini was the violin virtuoso of his age, the solo violin parts ask for a brilliant technique that covers all aspects of violin playing. They are still demanding works to play nearly 200 years after their composition, so it's no wonder that Paganini caused such a furor with his playing of them. The music world had never seen or heard the likes of Paganini before.

Violin Concerto No. Three begins with an introduction for orchestra, as do the first two concertos.  The orchestra then proceeds with the exposition of the first movement. Paganini's orchestration is colorful, straightforward and competent, but with a difference in timbre perhaps caused by Paganini using the guitar as his preferred instrument for composing. Berlioz also played the guitar, and his orchestrations have a slightly different sound also. The violin enters and immediately takes center stage as the orchestra takes its role as accompaniment.  The solo violin expands on the themes earlier stated by the orchestra until a place for a cadenza is reached, after which the orchestra brings the movement to a close.

The 2nd movement is a sweet aria for violin and pizzicato strings with the woodwinds adding pastel colors.

The 3rd movement is a Rondo in the tempo of a polonaise, a Polish dance.  The violin dialogues with the orchestra in different episodes between repeats of the main theme. Paganini uses left-hand pizzicati, flying bow work, double stops, harmonics, the whole gamut of  pyrotechnics for the violin until the work comes to a close.

Alkan - Symphony For Piano Solo

Alkan's Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (Twelve Studies in all the minor keys), Op. 39 for solo piano were published in 1857. But  due to a combination of the difficulties and eccentricities of the works themselves and Alkan's lack of self promotion, only a few of the etudes were heard during his lifetime in the 1870's. None of them were to be heard again until  Eron Petri played the Symphony in 1938.

Alkan was a virtuoso pianist that rivaled Liszt in technique, and while not all of his piano works bristle with intense technical difficulties, the minor key etudes are certainly some of the most challenging  piano music ever composed.

Etudes number 4 - 7 constitute the symphony for piano solo, and it remains one of the few compositions by any composer designated as a symphony. It is in 4 movements.

I. Allegro -  The first movement of the symphony is in C minor and is in sonata form.

The opening theme in the left hand octaves is the basis of most of the other themes in the movement. The first theme shifts into the right hand and after transition material another motif  in E-flat major is heard. The exposition is repeated. The development section makes the most of the first theme by shifting key changes. The recapitulation brings back the first theme in the key of C minor and leads to a coda where the theme trades off between hands until a two-bar chromatic downward run in the right hand begins in single notes:

The run is repeated, this time with the third of the C minor chord added at the beginning and every 1st note of the 4-note sixteenth note groups in the run as well as a third added to every 5th note of the sixteenthnote group. This gives the effect of the run being in thirds. Also, it adds an accent in such a way as to break up the 12 sixteenth notes of 2 groups of 6  to 3 groups of 4 time in the right hand:

The run is repeated for a third time, this time with the fifth added to complete the C minor chord and ther 5th added to the a-flat major chord, thus giving the effect of the run in triads. It also gives the illusion of being in 3/4 time:

The coda moves towards a C major chord, but the chord changes to C minor to end the movement. Alkan stayed true to the form of the first movement of a symphony, almost classical in proportion, but included passion and changes of mood along the way.

II. Marche Funèbre - Andantino - The first edition of the etudes had the following on the title page: Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un Uomo da bene (Funeral march on the death of a good man). No one knows to whom Alkan was referring to. Some think it might have been his father who had died two years before.

The theme is played legato over a staccato accompaniment. The movement is in F minor following the key scheme of the set of 12 as it is in a perfect 4th from the preceding movement. the middle section is more lyrical for contrast, and the march resumes. Before the end, a drum roll deep in the bass interrupts the march. A short coda reaches a climax before the music dies away and ends in F major.

III. Menuet - Hardly a menuet as known by Haydn and Mozart, this is a hectic scherzo in B-flat minor.

The energy of the scherzo dissolves into a lyrical trio that is in contrast. The scherzo returns and leads up to a short return of the trio until it ends in B-flat major.

IV. Finale - Presto -  The most technically challenging movements of the symphony. It is in E-flat minor, but modulates in and out of the home key.

The pace does not let up, even if the minor mood of the music changes to major. Breathlessly, it continues to run (with a few delicious dissonances on the way) until it finally runs itself out and ends with E-flat octaves in each hand.