Post by erik on Sept 26, 2020 17:22:39 GMT -5
In this week's Classical Works Spotlight, we look at one of Tchaikovsky's more "easy going", and more neo-Classical works, a cello concerto in all but actual name.
Tchaikovsky: VARIATIONS ON A ROCOCO THEME, OP. 33
Although it is not necessarily reflected in his symphonies, his ballet scores, or even his instrumental concertos, which all reflected the Romantic era and a penchant on the composer’s part for bigness and, arguably, bombast, Tchiakovsky’s biggest hero was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Indeed, the short-lived Austrian composer was thought of by Tchaikovsky, soon to be Russia’s single greatest composer, as a “Musical Christ”. Reflecting this admiration, during the winter of 1876-77, shortly after his graphically violent symphonic tone poem “Francesca Da Rimini”, the composer wrote what amounted to a de facto cello concerto in all but name, the Variations On A Rococo Theme. Despite its title, the work is not a set of variations of a previous theme (as with Brahms’ “Haydn Variations”) but a totally original theme of the composer’s in a rococo style, followed by eight variations. The work was written with the help of Wilhelm Fitzhagen, a German cellist and a fellow professor at the Moscow Conservatory, although the cellist did mess around with the order of the variations in his performance, causing something of a rift with the composer. In contrast with most of Tchaikovsky’s major works, the Rococo Variations are scored for a Mozart-sized orchestra, with pairs of all woodwind instruments, two French horns, and the full string compliment (excising trumpets, tuba, trombones, and timpani), making it one of his easier-going works. It also quickly became one of the standards of the cello repertoire, finding among some of its biggest 20th century advocates Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma.
Cello: YO-YO MA
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/LORIN MAAZEL (Sony)
Included:
Prokofiev: SINFONIA-CONCERTANTE FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 127
Tchaikovsky: ANDANTE CANTABILE (FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA)
Tchaikovsky: VARIATIONS ON A ROCOCO THEME, OP. 33
Although it is not necessarily reflected in his symphonies, his ballet scores, or even his instrumental concertos, which all reflected the Romantic era and a penchant on the composer’s part for bigness and, arguably, bombast, Tchiakovsky’s biggest hero was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Indeed, the short-lived Austrian composer was thought of by Tchaikovsky, soon to be Russia’s single greatest composer, as a “Musical Christ”. Reflecting this admiration, during the winter of 1876-77, shortly after his graphically violent symphonic tone poem “Francesca Da Rimini”, the composer wrote what amounted to a de facto cello concerto in all but name, the Variations On A Rococo Theme. Despite its title, the work is not a set of variations of a previous theme (as with Brahms’ “Haydn Variations”) but a totally original theme of the composer’s in a rococo style, followed by eight variations. The work was written with the help of Wilhelm Fitzhagen, a German cellist and a fellow professor at the Moscow Conservatory, although the cellist did mess around with the order of the variations in his performance, causing something of a rift with the composer. In contrast with most of Tchaikovsky’s major works, the Rococo Variations are scored for a Mozart-sized orchestra, with pairs of all woodwind instruments, two French horns, and the full string compliment (excising trumpets, tuba, trombones, and timpani), making it one of his easier-going works. It also quickly became one of the standards of the cello repertoire, finding among some of its biggest 20th century advocates Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma.
Cello: YO-YO MA
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/LORIN MAAZEL (Sony)
Included:
Prokofiev: SINFONIA-CONCERTANTE FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 127
Tchaikovsky: ANDANTE CANTABILE (FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA)
