Post by erik on Jun 19, 2021 20:29:35 GMT -5
A very popular single-movement work for violin and orchestra by one of France's greatest composers in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Saint-Saens: HAVANAISE. OP. 83
As one of the most important composers to have come out of France in the 19th century, certainly since Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saens provided a fair amount of compositions to the fields of opera, symphonies, symphonic tone poems, as well as concertos. This is especially true when it comes to the violin concerto. Three full-blown violin concertos were composed by Saint-Saens (with the Third being a standard of the violin repertoire); but he also composed two single-movement works for violin and orchestra as well. The first one of these was the virtuosic “Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso” of 1863; and twenty-four years later, there came “Havanaise”. A ten-minute work, scored in the unusual key of E Major, “Havanaise” is structured in the form of the dance known as the Habanera, a dance native to Cuba (and also featured in Saint-Saens’ fellow French composer Georges Bizet’s mega-popular opera “Carmen”), and written for the Cuban violinist Rafael Diaz Albertini. The habanera rhythm pulses through the work and gives the soloist a lot to work with, especially in its middle sections; and from its premier in 1888, it would become another standard piece for violinists around the world.
Violin: NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG
New York Chamber Symphony Orchestra/GERARD SCHWARZ (EMI)
Included:
Mendelssohn: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E MINOR, OP. 64
Saint-Saens: INTRODUCTION AND RONDO CAPRICCIOSO
Masenet: MEDITATION FROM “THAIS”
Saint-Saens: HAVANAISE. OP. 83
As one of the most important composers to have come out of France in the 19th century, certainly since Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saens provided a fair amount of compositions to the fields of opera, symphonies, symphonic tone poems, as well as concertos. This is especially true when it comes to the violin concerto. Three full-blown violin concertos were composed by Saint-Saens (with the Third being a standard of the violin repertoire); but he also composed two single-movement works for violin and orchestra as well. The first one of these was the virtuosic “Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso” of 1863; and twenty-four years later, there came “Havanaise”. A ten-minute work, scored in the unusual key of E Major, “Havanaise” is structured in the form of the dance known as the Habanera, a dance native to Cuba (and also featured in Saint-Saens’ fellow French composer Georges Bizet’s mega-popular opera “Carmen”), and written for the Cuban violinist Rafael Diaz Albertini. The habanera rhythm pulses through the work and gives the soloist a lot to work with, especially in its middle sections; and from its premier in 1888, it would become another standard piece for violinists around the world.
Violin: NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG
New York Chamber Symphony Orchestra/GERARD SCHWARZ (EMI)
Included:
Mendelssohn: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E MINOR, OP. 64
Saint-Saens: INTRODUCTION AND RONDO CAPRICCIOSO
Masenet: MEDITATION FROM “THAIS”