Post by erik on May 16, 2015 17:54:51 GMT -5
Dvorak's contribution to the violin concerto repertoire may not be as well known as numerous others, but it does merit a lookover, as it does here in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Dvorak: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN A MINOR, OP. 53
Although not necessarily super-popular when compared to others of its kind (Beethoven; Brahms; Mendelssohn; Tchaikovsky), the A Minor Violin Concerto of Antonin Dvorak has nevertheless continued to hold a place in every violinist’s concerto repertoire. Dvorak started work on this concerto in the very same year, 1879, that his champion and mentor Brahms bought out his Violin Concerto, but it would take another four years to receive a performance, originally intended to be done by the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, but instead given by Dvorak’s fellow Czech Frantisk Ondicek in Prague. A brief but dramatic orchestral introduction spirals in the soloist in a dark Bohemian mood and the stormy minor home key, with musical elements clearly reflecting the folk music of the composer’s home country. The slow movement, which comes after just a few bars of recapitulation at the end of the first movement, is in an equally somber key (F Minor); but the finale, in A Major, is heavily influence by Bohemian dance forms as the Furiant and the Dunka, with their unusual rhythmic patterns. Although it had its precedent (the earlier F Minor Romance, Opus 11, which is actually a reworking of the Andante movement of the composer’s String Quartet No. 5), this concerto would be one of only three full-blown instrumental concertos the composer would write (including the G Minor Piano Concerto, and the gigantically popular B Minor Cello Concerto). But the Violin Concerto would, after its initially slow pace at becoming well known, be firmly ensconced in the repertoire by the middle 20th century.
Violin: MIDORI
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/ZUBIN MEHTA (CBS)
Included:
ROMANCE IN F MINOR, OP. 11 (Violin: MIDORI)
CARNIVAL OVERTURE, OP. 92
Dvorak: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN A MINOR, OP. 53
Although not necessarily super-popular when compared to others of its kind (Beethoven; Brahms; Mendelssohn; Tchaikovsky), the A Minor Violin Concerto of Antonin Dvorak has nevertheless continued to hold a place in every violinist’s concerto repertoire. Dvorak started work on this concerto in the very same year, 1879, that his champion and mentor Brahms bought out his Violin Concerto, but it would take another four years to receive a performance, originally intended to be done by the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, but instead given by Dvorak’s fellow Czech Frantisk Ondicek in Prague. A brief but dramatic orchestral introduction spirals in the soloist in a dark Bohemian mood and the stormy minor home key, with musical elements clearly reflecting the folk music of the composer’s home country. The slow movement, which comes after just a few bars of recapitulation at the end of the first movement, is in an equally somber key (F Minor); but the finale, in A Major, is heavily influence by Bohemian dance forms as the Furiant and the Dunka, with their unusual rhythmic patterns. Although it had its precedent (the earlier F Minor Romance, Opus 11, which is actually a reworking of the Andante movement of the composer’s String Quartet No. 5), this concerto would be one of only three full-blown instrumental concertos the composer would write (including the G Minor Piano Concerto, and the gigantically popular B Minor Cello Concerto). But the Violin Concerto would, after its initially slow pace at becoming well known, be firmly ensconced in the repertoire by the middle 20th century.
Violin: MIDORI
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/ZUBIN MEHTA (CBS)
Included:
ROMANCE IN F MINOR, OP. 11 (Violin: MIDORI)
CARNIVAL OVERTURE, OP. 92
.