Rimsky -Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol

Rimsky-Korsakov composed three brilliantly orchestrated works in 1887-1888; Scheherazade, Russian Easter Festival Overture and the first piece composed, Capriccio Espagnol. The orchestration is colorful and bold, with numerous opportunities for the first-chair players for solos, and the Spanish tunes used are memorable.  

The work is in one continuous movement but consists of 5 different sections:

Albarado - A festive dance celebrating the morning sun opens the work.

Theme and variations - The tune is first played by the horns and then is carried to different instruments of the orchestra.
Albarado -  The same tune as in  the first section, but in a different key.
Scene and gypsy song -  This section begins with five solos by different instruments played over drum rolls that lead into a fast dance in triple time.
 Fandango from the Asturias - A fast and energetic dance that leads to a repeat of the Albarado theme which finishes the work.

Rimsky-Korsakov originally was going to compose a virtuoso work for violin and orchestra on Spanish themes but he changed his mind. Evidently he kept some of the solo violin virtuoso passages and gave them to the concertmaster of the orchestra.

At the premiere of the piece in 1887 with Rimsky-Korsakov conducting, the audience demanded that the entire work be repeated after the first hearing. During rehearsals of the work the orchestra members kept interrupting the rehearsals to applaud the composer.  Even so, Rimsky-Korsakov took exception to positive reactions of the piece that reacted to the orchestration of the piece,while seeming to ignore other aspects of the work. He vented his displeasure in his autobiography:

The opinion formed by both critics and the public, that the Capriccio is a magnificently orchestrated piece - is wrong. The Capriccio is a brilliant composition for the orchestra. The change of timbres, the felicitous choice of melodic designs and figuration patterns, exactly suiting each kind of instrument, brief virtuoso cadenzas for instruments solo, the rhythm of the percussion instruments, etc., constitute here the very essence of the composition and not its garb or orchestration. The Spanish themes, of dance character, furnished me with rich material for putting in use multiform orchestral effects. All in all, the Capriccio is undoubtedly a purely external piece, but vividly brilliant for all that. 

It is hard to imagine that Rimsky-Korsakov first had a career in the Russian Navy. He began composing as an untrained amateur and actually was appointed Professor of Practical Composition at the St. Petersburg conservatory despite his lack of even some basic music fundamentals. He managed to stay one step ahead of his students and studied all of these on his own and formed himself into an excellent teacher, master of orchestration, composer and conductor.

Rachmaninoff - Trio Élégiaque No. 1 In G Minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote two piano trios within a year of each other, and both were called Trio Élégiaque (elegiac, or mournful trio). The first was written in 1892 when Rachmaninoff was 19 years old. He wrote it in a three-day period, and he was the pianist at the premiere of the work a few days later.  The second trio was written in 1893 shortly after the death of Tchaikovsky, a composer Rachmaninoff admired. So the second trio is actually an elegy in remembrance of Tchaikovsky, but the first was written when Tchaikovsky was in good health the year before.

The first trio is in but one movement, and is modeled somewhat after Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio In A Minor written in 1882, which was written in memory of Tchaikovsky's deceased friend Nicolai Rubinstein. This work made a lasting impression on Rachmaninoff and influenced him greatly when he composed his own trios.

The work opens with the violin and cello slowly and softly playing a repetitive figure that gradually grows in intensity. The piano enters with the theme that dominates the work:

This theme goes through various changes in the twelve sections that make up the trio, and in the end is transformed into a funeral march, as the Tchaikovsky trio does.

Rachmaninoff was still a student when he composed this trio, but he already had the emotional intensity and sense of instrumental color that was to be a part of his future compositions.

On account of it being a student work or its short length (it takes about 15 minutes to perform),  Trio Élégiaque No. 1 In G Minor was not published in Rachmaninoff's lifetime. The first edition appeared in 1947, and the work has no opus number.

Hiller - Piano Concerto No. 2 In F-sharp Minor, Opus 69

Ferdinand Hiller was born in 1811 in Frankfurt am Main to Jewish parents. His natural music ability was recognized early and he had learned his studies well enough by the age of 10 that he performed a Mozart piano concerto in public and wrote his first compositions two years later. His life was a veritable who's who of acquaintances of European music from his early years on. His piano technique grew to be one of the best in all of Europe. 

He met Felix Mendelssohn in 1822 and struck up a friendship that lasted until they had a falling out in 1843. He went on to study with Johann Hummel in Weimar from 1825 to 1827, and when Hummel went to Vienna to visit the dying Beethoven, Hiller was with him at the deathbed. While in Vienna, he went with Hummel to hear Franz Schubert and Johann Vogl perform Schubert's Winterreise.  After his time with Hummel he went to Paris for a few years, and then went to Italy as he hoped to write a successful opera. 

In Milan he met and befriended Rossini, and went on to meet and know Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Luigi Cherubini, Charles Valentin-Alkan, and Richard Wagner. Robert Schumann dedicated his Piano Concerto In A Minor to Hiller, and Chopin dedicated the three nocturnes of Opus 15 to him. It was Hiller's personality that allowed him to maintain so many acquaintances of some highly artistically temperamented composers. He was by most accounts a charming man, and after he married his wife Antonka in 1840, their home became a meeting place for musicians and intelligentsia. He was also a teacher, lecturer and writer whose articles were published in many of the musical periodicals of the time. 

Although Hiller had a profound influence on European music as a composer, conductor, pianist, and author, he was not an advocate of the New German School Of Music that was led by Liszt and Wagner. He remained an essentially conservative musician and composer. He was a fine conductor, but avoided playing the works of some of his friends. Perhaps that is one reason that his music was so rapidly forgotten after his death in 1885.  He wrote 3 piano concertos among his other numerous works. 

I. Moderato, ma con energia e con fuoco -  Although Hiller was a somewhat conservative composer, that doesn't mean he didn't have some different ideas on how to meet the challenge of writing a work for soloist and orchestra. His 1st concerto written about 1829 was in the mold of many concertos written by composers/pianist in that the first movement begins with the orchestra presenting the themes of the movement. This 2nd concerto written in about 1843 begins with the piano stating a rhythmic first theme with the orchestra adding a few accents. Another theme emerges after the first, this one of a more lyrical nature. Yet another theme is first stated by the orchestra, and the soloist adds its own decorated version of it. A short development section leads to a return to the first theme and a compression of the exposition as themes are combined and played through until the orchestra reaches a cadence that brings forth a piano solo directly to the next movement. 

II. Andante espressivo - Several lyrical motifs are brought forth in this movement where the soloist is the main attraction. The orchestra accompanies lightly and only a few times carries thematic material, and when it does the piano adds a filigree of an accompaniment. The first theme returns and endswith three quiet chords from the piano. 

III. Allegro con fuoco -  The orchestra begins the movement and the piano enters with the first theme. The piano also presents the second theme as well. The movement consists of these two themes developing and weaving in and out between soloist and orchestra in various keys. The piano has many embellishments that add variety to the themes The movement ends with a flourish from the piano in octaves while the orchestra plays the closing cadence.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 In F Minor, Opus 36

For many of the Romantic era composers,  the writing of symphonies presented problems. Especially with the use of sonata form. The great symphonic composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and even Bruckner used themes when they used sonata form while the Romantics used melodies.

What created the problem was the differences between a theme and a melody. A theme can be a short motif, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or it can be as long as a Brucknerian theme from one of his symphonies.  It is the character of the theme, the way that it can be changed and developed, that made for the success and utilization of sonata form.  A melody can be beautiful and complete in itself, but not all melodies can be successfully used and developed in sonata form in a symphony.  That is the dilemma that Romantics like Tchaikovsky faced when he began to write symphonies.

Tchaikovsky had a great gift for melody, but he was not the supreme architect like Beethoven who could take a few notes and construct a finely wrought symphonic structure around it. Tchaikovsky's first three symphonies were written in a more strict adherence to sonata form and structure. It wasn't until his 4th symphony that Tchaikovsky wrote a symphony in a very loose symphonic structure.  The 4th was not immediately popular, the premiere of it caused much criticism, probably due to the fact that if a regular concert-goer that was in the audience expected a 'traditional' symphony, they most certainly didn't get one.  But time has proven that Tchaikovsky's way with the symphonic form allowed him to stay more true to his talent. The three symphonies he wrote in this loose form are played way more often than those first three that are closer to tradition.

The 4th Symphony is in the traditional four movements:

I. Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima — Moderato assai, quasi Andante — Allegro vivo - The many changes of tempo in this movement tell a great deal about the musical and emotional content of it. This movement alone is longer than the other three put together. The music has vitality and power, with melodies that weave in and out of the loose structure,  melodies that are developed, and some that aren't heard but once.  Tchaikovsky's newly discovered way to write a first movement for a symphony fits his musicianship and temperament very well. There is always drama in Tchaikovsky's music, and this movement runs the length of emotion from calm reserve to borderline hysteria.

II.  Andantino in modo di canzona - A beautiful melody is played and configured, with a central section of reflection on things already heard that builds into climax that is related more to the first movement than this one. The opening melody is heard again and there is more of a darkness to it now than the beginning. The music slowly and gently comes to a quiet close.

III. Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato — Allegro -  One of the most original orchestrations of a master orchestrator, this movement has the strings playing pizzicato throughout. The winds pick up after the opening and play a tune until the brasses interrupt with a marching tune reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's ballet music. The strings return as in the opening, then enter into a dialog with the winds, the music is again interrupted by the marching brass, the pizzicato strings return and end the movement on a quiet note.

IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco - The movement begins with a clash of cymbals and a rollicking tune. After that, Tchaikovsky quotes and old Russian song, In the Field Stood a Birch Tree. The tune is repeated a few times with different instruments, the first theme that began the movement returns until  the orchestra carries on with variants on the old Russian song. A direct quote from the beginning of the first movement interrupts the proceedings and leads back to the opening of the movement. Snatches of the old Russian folk song are heard and the orchestra whips itself into a grand ending.

 

Mozart - String Quintet No. 4 In G Minor K.516

A string quintet ensemble is usually made up of a string quartet; two violins, viola and cello, with the addition of another cello or viola.  On occasion a double bass may be one of the extra instruments. The two string quintets Mozart wrote in 1787 have an additional viola added, because reportedly Mozart's favorite stringed instrument to play was the viola.

The pair of quintets are a study in contrast, as the one in C major is of a decidedly more sunny disposition than the one on G minor, a key that seems to be Mozart's key of passion and deep feeling. He wrote the pair of quintets around the time of the composition of his opera Don Giovanni, as well as the final illness of his father.

I. Allegro - The movement begins straight away with a hushed, agitated theme played in the first violin to an accompaniment from the second violin and first viola:

This theme is traded between violin and viola, and is transformed into the second theme, which begins in G minor but shifts to B-flat major. Lesser motives are heard, but the minor mode lurks throughout the exposition. The development section begins with the first theme. It moves from instrument to instrument as the section remains for the most part in the minor mode. The recapitulation has both themes repeated in G minor, The conventions of the time more often as not would have called for the movement to end in the major mode, but Mozart keeps the music solidly in G minor all the way to the end.

II. Menuetto: Allegretto -  The second movement minuet is far removed from the original courtly dance. It is in G minor, and is punctuated by two loud chords heard on the 3rd beat of the 4th and 6th bar:

The trio is in G major, but still has a shade of melancholy over it.

III. Adagio ma non troppo - Played with mutes on all five instruments throughout its length, the third movement is in E-flat major. Mozart's chromatic transition to the second theme in B-flat minor is taken up again as this minor key theme transforms into B-flat major and is repeated. The music delves back into despair once more before the sweetness of E-flat major brings the movement to a close.

IV.  Adagio - Allegro - Mozart begins the final movement in the darkness of G minor once again. But after the music shifts tempo, key to G major in 6/8 time,  The preceding dark movements are balanced out by this rondo, as is in full keeping with the music aesthetic of the Classical era. 

Mozart

Henselt - Piano Concerto In F Minor, Opus 16

 If there was ever a pianist afflicted with compulsive piano practicing, it had to be Adolph von Henselt (1814 - 1889), a German pianist, teacher and composer. He would practice ten  hours a day, read the Bible he had on his piano music stand while he did finger exercises, and when he gave a concert he had a dummy piano offstage to practice on between the selections he played and at intermission.  He practiced so much that he would dampen the strings of his piano with quills so the sound wouldn't get on his nerves.

And a nervous man he was, at least before and during a concert. He had such a bad case of stage fright every time he had to play in public that he would get physically sick. He would have to be pushed out onto the stage to start his recitals, play through the selection and then literally run back off the stage.  He toured extensively in Germany in 1836. He realized that he didn't have the nerves to be a traveling virtuoso, so he settled in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1838. He had previously played there before the Czar, who took a liking to his music and to Henselt.  By the time Henselt had turned 33, his touring days were over. He gave only a handful of concerts after that.

All of the compulsive practice gave Henselt an astounding technique. He was most well known for an incredible hand span on the keyboard. Through diligent (and compulsive) stretching of his hand and fingers his relatively small hands were able to extend a twelfth. His left hand could play the chord C-E-G-C-F without resorting to the use of the pedal or arppegiating the chord. He wrote etudes for the piano in all the major and minor keys, and like Chopin's etudes each one addressed a specific problem of technique.  Much of his reputation was because of these etudes, some of which drove most pianists to despair.

Henselt also composed a few chamber pieces, a piano concerto that Anton Rubinstein finally gave up trying to learn (along with the etudes) because, "it was a waste of time, for they were based on an abnormal formation of the hand. In this respect, Henselt, like Paganini, was a freak."

Henselt became a great influence in the musical life of Russia after he moved there.  He spent the rest of his life in St. Petersburg, only leaving occasionally for a trip back to his native Germany.  He taught piano at the conservatory and later became Inspector General of all the music instruction institutions in Russia. He influenced and helped bring about the Russian school of piano playing that was well-represented  by pianists such as Rachmaninoff.  Henselt also gave up his career as a composer early on. After he finished his piano concerto in F minor, he wrote virtually nothing else for the rest of his life.

By all indications, Henselt was a complicated man. He was a terror as a piano teacher as he could tolerate no imperfection or mistakes. Patience was not one of his virtues. But yet he was highly influential and helped create a whole national school of Russian virtuoso piano players.  He composed relatively little, yet his compositions show the talent of a master. He was one of the greatest pianist that ever touched the instrument, and equal of Liszt said some.  Yet he had such a bad case of stage fright that he concertized for only a short time.  He will in many ways remain an enigma. Clara Schumann gave the premiere of the concerto in 1844, with a few other pianists tackling the difficulties for performance. Henselt performed the concerto but rarely. 

I. Allegro patetico - The concerto begins with the orchestra playing themes that will be heard again when the soloist enters, typical of a concerto of this era. The opening orchestral exposition is the only time the piano does not play, thus making stamina an integral part of the writing. Filled with every kind of piano configuration, the music sounds well, a great example of an early Romantic era concerto and many of the difficulties in execution aren't obvious to the listener without a score. Even in the more lyrical parts of the movement, the soloist has to deal with virtuoso piano writing.  After the exposition, parts of the development has the orchestra play a lyrical variant of a theme, after which the piano enters and expands on it. The recapitulation goes through the usual repeat of the themes.  The movement comes to a close in a coda where the piano plays a cascade of descending octaves and the orchestra takes up the first theme that has been transposed to a major key. 

II. Larghetto - The lyrical second movement brings a change of mood to the concerto, but even in the most lyrical passages, Henselt writes mitt-fulls of notes. The middle section of the movement grows more impassioned before the lyricism returns to end the movement with a segue directly to the finale.

III.  Allegro agitato - The entrance of the soloist in this movement is in thundering octaves which leads to the theme of the rondo.

This concerto is an attractive piece of music, and Henselt shows that he was more than an average composer for the orchestra. But it will always be most well known for the horrendously difficult piano part. 

Rossini - Bassoon Concerto

 From the years 1812 to 1822 Gioachino Rossini wrote thirty operas, or the average of three every year for ten years. These works were his most popular, and he wrote nine more up to the year of 1829 when his last famous opera, 'William Tell' was written. It was the last opera Rossini was to write, as he went into a forty year retirement. He wrote some music during these last forty years, including in the last ten years of his life a collection of 150 pieces in various forms that he called Péchés de vieillesse, or Sins Of Old Age.  There had been rumors that Rossini had written a bassoon concerto, but it wasn't until the 1990's that a manuscript score was found in a library in Italy of a bassoon concerto which on the front piece states that it was by Rossini.

The story goes that Rossini had written the work for Nazareno Gatti, a bassoon student, for his final examination.  Rossini was an advisor at the music school in Bologna where Gatti attended, but scholars aren't sure how much Rossini was involved with writing the concerto. He may have sketched it out for someone else to finish, as he did with many of his compositions during his retirement. Some say Gatti finished it, or Gatti may have wrote the entire work and put Rossini's name to it. In any event, scholars agree it was written in the 1840's and in the style of Rossini. If it truly was written by Rossini, it would represent his final work for orchestra, as the aforementioned Péchés de vieillesse were chamber works or solo piano.

I. Allegro - The work opens in the key of B-flat major with the orchestra stating the themes of the movement as per usual in a concerto, especially this movement that is built more in Classical era form and techniques than Romantic.  The bassoon enters and plays  the first theme along with punctuations of the low registers of the instrument. The orchestra begins the second theme with light pizzicato violins. The clarinets play along with the soloist and the music goes into the development section.  The soloist gets a chance to show off the instrument and after the recapitulation a short coda allows the bassoon to reach the heights and depths of its range as the music comes to a close.

II. Largo - The music shifts from B-flat major to C minor, a key quite distant from B-flat major.  In this lyrical movement the bassoon sings as if it is a soloist in a scene from an opera. The tonal range of the movement showcases the bassoons unique timbre changes in its registers. The movement ends with dramatic tremoloes in the strings as the music fades away.

III. Rondo - The plethora of notes for the soloist doesn't let up in the finale, nor their extreme ranges. The music is in the key of F major, something different than many concertos of this time as it isn't in the same key of the first movement. The title page of the manuscript states that it is a Concerto da Esperimento , or an Examination Concerto. The music truly is a test for the soloists technical and musical abilities. The question of its authorship not withstanding, this concerto is a fine representation of what the bassoon can do in the hands of a virtuoso, and is a valuable addition to the repertoire. 

<