95655 romantic serenades booklet 05 by Klassiek.nl

95655

Romantic Serenades for Strings Dvorˇák · Elgar · Janác ˇek · Kalinnikov · Tchaikovsky

Romantic Serenades for Strings CD1 58’00 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893 Serenade for Strings Op.48 1. I. Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo – Allegro moderato 7’50 2. II. Valse: Moderato (Tempo di valse) 3’39 3. III. Elégie: Larghetto elegiaco 8’27 4. IV. Finale (Tema russo): Andante; Allegro con spirito 7’07 Ensemble Instrumental Musica Viva Alexander Rudin cello & conductor Antonin Dvorˇák 1841-1904 Serenade in E Op.22 5. Moderato 6. Tempo di valse 7. Scherzo: Vivace 8. Larghetto 9. Finale: Allegro vivace

3’08 7’10 6’32 6’45 5’44

Capella Istropolitana Jaroslav Krcˇek Recording: 6-11 May 1990, Moyzes Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic (5-9) Producers: Karol Kopernicky, Hubert Geschwandtner (5-9) © 2018 Brilliant Classics Music Licensed Courtesy of Naxos Music Group

CD2 53’08 Vasily Kalinnikov 1866-1901 1. Serenade in G minor for strings (1891) – Andantino 9’13 Leoš Janácˇek 1854-1928 Idyll for string orchestra (1878) 2. Andante 3. Allegro 4. Moderato 5. Allegro 6. Adagio 7. Scherzo 8. Moderato

4’30 3’23 4’10 3’50 7’15 3’33 4’04

Edward Elgar 1857-1934 Serenade Op.20 for strings (1888-1892) 9. Allegro Piacevole 3’31 10. Larghetto 6’37 11. Allegretto 2’58 Orchestra da Camera ‘Ferruccio Busoni’ Massimo Belli director 1st violin: Gabriel Ferrari, Valentino Dentesani, Olga Zakharova, Giuseppe Carbone 2nd violin: Martina Lazzarini, Furio Belli, Giuseppe Dimaso, Verena Rojc Viola: Giancarlo Di Vacri, Federico Furlanetto Cello: Francesco Ferrarini, Antonino Puliafito Contrabass: Mitsugu Harada Recording: 2 & 3 November 2014, l’Auditorium del Collegio del Mondo Unito dell’Adriatico, Duino (TS), Italy Producer, Sound Engineer: Raffaele Cacciola, BartokStudio p 2016 & © 2018 Brilliant Classics

CD3 42’50 Niels Wilhelm Gade 1817–1890 Novellette No.1 in F Op.53 (1874) 1. I. Andantino – Allegro vivace e grazioso 6’05 2. II. Scherzo: Moderato 5’02 3. III. Andantino con moto 3’58 4. IV. Allegro vivace 3’40 Novellette No.2 in E Op.58 (1883–6) 5. I. Andante – Allegro ma non troppo 7’29 6. II. Intermezzo: Allegro moderato 4’28 7. III. Andante espressivo 5’52 8. IV. Finale: Allegro con brio 5’03 Århus Chamber Orchestra Ove Vedsten Larsen Recording: 1981, Ellevang Kirke, Aarhus, Denmark Engineers: Leif Ramløv & Karin Jürgensen Licensed from Paula Records p 2011 & © 2018 Brilliant Classics

CD4 74’55 Béla Bartók 1881–1945 Divertimento for string orchestra Sz113 1. I. Allegro non troppo 10’13 2. II. Molto adagio 10’29 3. III. Allegro assai 7’39 Giorgio Federico Ghedini 1892–1965 Concerto for violin and strings ‘Il belprato’ 4. I. Allegro moderato e spiritoso 5’01 5. II. Andante fiorito 5’06 6. III. Rondò: Vivace con brio 2’24 7. IV. Molto adagio 3’51 8. V. Quasi presto 2’33 Daniele Orlando violin Nino Rota 1911–1979 Concerto for strings 9. I. Preludio: Allegro ben moderato e cantabile 4’25 10. II. Scherzo: Allegretto comodo 4’32 11. III. Aria: Andante quasi adagio 5’09 12. IV. Finale: Allegrissimo 2’59

Paul Hindemith 1895–1963 Trauermusik for viola and string orchestra 13. I. Langsam 14. II. Ruhig bewegt 15. III. Lebhaft 16. IV. Choral: ‘Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’

4’54 0’51 1’34 2’53

I Solisti Aquilani Violins I: Daniele Orlando concertmaster, Lorenzo Fabiani, Federico Cardilli, Eleonora Minerva Violins II: Francesco Peverini, Alessandro Marini, Leonardo Spinedi, Vanessa Di Cintio Violas: Gianluca Saggini, Riccardo Savinelli, Luana De Rubeis Cellos: Giulio Ferretti, Michele Marco Rossi Double Bass: Alessandro Schillaci Flavio Emilio Scogna conductor

CD5 Josef Suk 1874-1935 Serenade in E flat Op.6 1. Andante con moto 2. Allegro ma non troppo 3. Adagio 4. Allegro giocoso

69’16

6’41 5’47 10’21 7’36

Capella Istropolitana Jaroslav Krcˇek Edvard Grieg 1843-1907 Holberg Suite Op.40 5. Praeludium: Allegro vivace 6. Sarabande: Andante 7. Gavotte: Allegretto – Musette: Poco pìu mosso 8. Air: Andante religioso 9. Rigaudon: Allegro con brio-Poco meno mosso

2’35 3’24 3’15 5’28

Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872-1958 10. Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis 15’11 11. Fantasia on Greensleeves 4’30 New Zealand Symphony Orchestra James Judd conductor Recording: 6-11 May 1990, Moyzes Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic (1-4); 25-28 August 2005, Lommedalen Church, Oslo, Norway (5-9); 28-30 June 2001, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand (10-11) Producers: Karol Kopernicky, Hubert Geschwandtner (1-4); Sean Lewis (5-9); Tim Handley (10-11) © 2018 Brilliant Classics Music Licensed Courtesy of Naxos Music Group

3’53

Oslo Camerata Stephan Barratt-Due conductor

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings was written in September–October 1880. At first Tchaikovsky hesitated between a symphony and a quintet. Opting for a string orchestra, his thinking was that of a symphonist, as is borne out by the inscription on the manuscript: ‘The larger the number of strings, the more it will correspond to the composer’s wish.’ The Serenade was first heard at a private concert in the Moscow Conservatory on 21 November 1880. In the same way as the Variations on a Rococo Theme it demonstrates the need felt by a romantic composer to regenerate himself by a return to the classical sources. But even more than that, it constitutes a synthesis of the fundamental aspects of Tchaikovsky’s art. The Pezzo in forma di Sonatina begins with a solemn introduction before slipping into a Mozartian lightness and transparency. The Valse is a moment of perfect musical felicity. It is followed by an Elegie, which alternates between a contemplative, almost religious gravity and moments of more relaxed lyricism. And the Finale, used on two folksongs, celebrates his return to his native soil. Classical, dance-like, elegiac, nationalistic – summarized in four words, this is the musical portrait of Tchaikovsky.

great tenderness and yearning, recalling in outline the trio of the second movement leads to the finale in which there are references both to the Larghetto and to the first movement. This brings, in conclusion, still more of the spirit of Bophemia, with which the whole Serenade is instilled. © Keith Anderson

The Russian composer and bassoonist Vassily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) was in contact with Tchaikovsky, who introduced him to the Opera in Moscow in 1892. A great admirer of Turgenev, he drew inspiration from the writer’s style in conjuring up atmosphere by means of themes and rhythms derived from Russian folk songs. The Serenade for strings is an intensely lyrical work that begins with a short introduction in which the voice of the cellos responds to the pizzicato of the strings. The mood then expands in melodious passages while the cellos repeat the subject in tones approaching an ostinato. These lyrical phrases are echoed among the sections of the orchestra with various refrains that reveal the composer’s skill in imitation. The outcome is a rich palette of orchestral sound and colour.

Antonin Dvorˇák’s Serenade in E Op.22, for string orchestra was written in the first two weeks of May in the year 1873 and performed in Prague on the 10th of December 1876, It is scored only for strings and has for many years forms a major item in the string orchestra repertoire. The first movement opens with music of delicate charm, breathing something of the spirit of a Schubert quartet, particularly in the middle section of this ternary movement. This is followed by a waltz, with a more restless trio. The scherzo starts with a melody of great liveliness, followed by a second theme of more romantic pretensions and a further melody of considerable beauty, before an extended passage leads back again to the opening melodies. A larghetto of

A friend of Dvorˇák’s, Leoš Janácˇek (1854-1928) received his musical education in Prague towards the end of the 1800s, when the city was alive with artistic ferment and the desire to promote the Czech national identity. While still a student Janácˇek became interested in musical psychology and the physiology of acoustics, which inspired him to go beyond traditional harmony. The Idyll for Strings is a youthful work that is still largely late-romantic in essence. It consists of seven individual pieces, the first of which is compact and somewhat reminiscent of Dvorˇák in the handling of the solemnly incisive subject. Next comes an Allegro with irregular accentuation and a counter melody. Despondency and certain Russian hues prevail in the third piece,

unalleviated by the odd ray of light. The subject of the second Allegro is angular and sharp until it turns into a dance in which softer moments alternate with vigorous passages. The gentle Adagio is like a melodious elegy in structure, almost a lullaby. The Scherzo comes across like a country dance with imitations and refrains, while the impressive last movement develops around a theme expressed by the high voices of the strings in counterpoint with the rest of the orchestra, in keeping with the model of the theme and variations with echoes of folk dances.

Edward Elgar’s Serenade Op.20 for strings was written for and dedicated to the organ builder and amateur musician Edward W. Whinfield. A very popular piece and one of the composer’s own favourite works, it comprises thematic material first developed in an early composition that was only published when Elgar decided to pursue a career in music. Bringing out the individual voices of the instruments, as in a chamber work, he entrusted the initial subject in staccato notes to the violas, set off by the lyrical reply in the ensemble. Elgar was able to handle sentiment with balance, intensity and flow, gifts that make his music refined and immediately communicative in the way it expresses feelings. The central Larghetto is like an idyllic oasis imbued with affectionate lyricism. Considered by critics to be an expression of the composer’s maturity, it expresses nostalgic melancholy, using a highly-charged melodic line to evoke the bucolic glory of the English countryside. © Margherita Canale Translation: Kate Singleton

Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817–1890) was the first great international name in Danish music after Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). He was a contemporary and friend of Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), and like Andersen and later Carl Nielsen 8

(1865–1931), Gade was a man of humble origin who became one of the undisputed leading lights of Danish cultural society. The story of the 26-year-old musician from Copenhagen who in 1843 started out on a European Bildungsreise with his violin and his scores reads like a fairy tale. All of sudden he found himself at the centre of European musical society, in Leipzig. Mendelssohn, who had presented Gade’s First Symphony with his Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1843, was delighted to offer him a post at his newly opened conservatory. At the same time Gade was appointed assistant conductor of the orchestra, to become its principal conductor on Mendelssohn’s death in 1847. Here, among other things, he conducted the first performance of both Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Thus Gade seemed to have the musical world of Europe at his feet, but the tension between Germany and Denmark which in 1848 led to open war led him to return to Copenhagen. Meanwhile Denmark was undergoing a series of very important social changes – the revolution of the bourgeoisie was succeeding without bloodshed. Gade now set himself the task, with Mendelssohn as his great example, of putting Copenhagen on the musical map of Europe, of creating a public concert tradition in the modern sense. And in this he succeeded. After the imposing works of genius, distinctly national-romantic in character, which had marked the turning-point in his early career (the Ossian Overture and the First Symphony) Gade’s creativity now became subordinated to this task. The composer himself saw most of his music as mere utility music for this education of the cultivated concert public. At the core of the bourgeois philosophy of art was the concept of the Harmonious Man, based on the trinity of the Good, the True and the Beautiful. This ideal of beauty is clearly reflected in Gade’s copious production – eight symphonies, various works for chorus and orchestra, and chamber music – in its lucid simplicity of form, in the drive of its thematic flight, in its flowing melodiousness and clear beauty of harmony. The Romanticism of Mendelssohn, rooted as it was in the 9

simplicity of Classicism, remained Gade’s ideal; but as his friend Schumann pointed out in his Zeitschrift, ‘the lovely beechwoods of Denmark’ were also to be heard in Gade’s music. As an example of this, Gade’s Novelettes for strings must be counted among his finest works. Like several of his piano compositions, they are perfect gems of Romantic Kleinkunst. © Jens Rossel Translation: Bent Preisler

Béla Bartók’s Divertimento Sz113, composed in August 1939 in the peaceful reaches of Saanen, in Switzerland. More like a baroque concerto grosso than a divertimento (the latter is usually comprised of more movements), this piece features alternating solo and tutti parts divided into the usual three movements: Allegro non troppo, Molto adagio and Allegro assai. This latter section returns to the thematic material of the first section in an A–B–A1 framework, while in its turn the central movement has a bridging bcb1 structure. The Allegro non troppo is rhythmically in 9/8 time, occasionally reduced to 6/8, with a pentatonic subject in which different sound realms are alternated in a manner that recalls the Romanian hora folk dance, albeit without any explicit citation. An aura of mystery surrounds the beginning of the Molto adagio, which soon embodies references to the folk culture and Hungarian rhythms that animate much of Bartók’s music. The movement is somewhat dark in mood, with a subject that grows in chromatic terms until it sounds like a cry of desperation. The Allegro assai third movement, in which the thematic material from the first movement is reworked in 2/4 rather than 6/8 time, allows the composer to move from the initial counterpoint-like approach to a more homophonic idiom. The character of the country dance remains, however, with a gypsy-style violin cadenza and a Vivacissimo conclusion in the final coda. 10

Giorgio Federico Ghedini’s Concerto ‘Il belprato’ is highly mobile in structure. It consists of an Allegro moderato e spiritoso, followed by an elegant Andante fiorito, and concluded by the rondo: Vivace con brio – Molto adagio – Quasi presto. An expert in early music as well as contemporary compositions, Ghedini chose to manifest his period of reference in the tightly woven opening of the piece, where the clearly dodecaphonic subject comes across as a homage to the Vienna School, with a sideward glance towards Stravinsky. In some respects this was typical of those years, when composers also defined themselves via their attitude to the past, including the recent past, with no hint of negative connotation. Indeed, the coexistence of different spheres of expression was part of Ghedini’s freedom as a composer, allowing him to interweave irregular rhythms, harmonic clashes and moments of violinistic lyricism to create an inexorably rich, limpid sound tapestry. Despite its evident brilliance, in this piece the violin also continues to be concertante, in deep symbiosis with the other instruments as it is continually drawn into the density of the orchestral part.

Nino Rota’s Concerto for strings, composed for I Musici in 1964–65, can be connected to the same genre as Bartok’s Divertimento. It speaks to the composer’s great mastery and lightness of touch and makes us understand how important it is to perform all of his music, not just his film scores. The Concerto for strings consists of a Preludio (Allegro ben moderato e cantabile), a Scherzo (Allegretto comodo), an Aria (Andante quasi adagio) and the Finale (Allegrissimo). It was premiered at the RAI Auditorium in Naples on 5 January 1967, and then slightly modified in 1977. As was his wont, Rota opted for a classical structure, which he then played with in different ways, with a particular taste for counterpoint, dance motifs, and his own unfailingly inventive strain. While the cheeriness of the Scherzo may indeed recall certain of his film scores, 11

in general this piece proves that the lightness of Rota’s film music was only part of the story. In coming years hopefully new performances and recordings will further promote awareness of his creative genius. Thanks to interpretations such as the one presented here, which overcome the mere juxtaposition of fragments, listeners will increasingly appreciate the depth and complexity of Rota’s compositions.

Paul Hindemith’s Trauermusik (Funeral Music) was composed in the emotional wake of the death of the much-loved English sovereign, King George V, on 21 January 1936. At the time the composer was actually in London for a performance of his viola concerto, Der Schwanendreher, and the programme had to be changed. The day after the royal demise Hindemith wrote the Trauermusik, which comprises a Langsam, Ruhig bewegt, Lebhaft and the Chorale ‘Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’ (‘I come before your throne’). It was performed ‘in memoriam’ that same day with the BBC orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult. The composition, which envisaged a solo part that could be played by a violin, a viola or a cello, comes across as a long prayer in which expressions of sorrow and soulful reflections are voiced by soloist and orchestra, the former in recitative-like parts and the latter in homophonic passages. While the overall atmosphere is generally melancholy, as befitted the situation, in the Vivace it gathers momentum, heralding the protestant chorale that concludes the work. Though the piece is relatively short, it bears witness to the way a cohesive ensemble and a versatile violist (Francesco Fiore) can together breathe new life into the composition’s refined dramatic tension and marked lyricism. © Roberto Giuliani Translation: Kate Singleton

Josef Suk’s Serenade in E flat Op.6 was written in 1892, a year after his graduation from the Conservatory, and on the recommendation of Brahms was published by Simrock in 1896, immediately establishing him as a composer of importance. In four movements the Serenade opens with a movement of charm and lyrical appeal, tinged with occasional sadness and very much in the classical tradition. This is followed by a more overtly cheerful Allegro and a slow movement of greater intensity of feeling. The mood changes at once with the energy of the final movement that brings to an end a work of remarkable achievement, composed as it was by an eighteen-year-old, then embarking on an additional year of instruction at the Conservatory.

Edward Grieg’s From Holberg’s Time: Suite in the Olden Style was commissioned to mark the bicentenary of Holberg’s birth. In five movements, originally for piano, it was arranged by the composer for string orchestra, the form in which it is now most familiar. Grieg here takes the form of the Baroque suite, with its traditional French dance movements, re-interpreted through the neoclassical prism of his own time.

Ralph Vaughan Willaims’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, drawn from the introduction to the third act of the opera ‘Sir John in Love’, based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’, was arranged in 1934 by Ralph Greaves for string orchestra, harp and one or two optional flutes. The work starts with the familiar melody, used to frame a lively contrasting dance. Vaughan Williams conducted the first performance of his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester in 1910. He revised the work in 1913 and 1919. The fantasia takes a theme by the Elizabethian composer Thomas Tallis that Vaughan Williams had included in his own ‘English Hymnal’, and is scored for double string orchestra and string quartet. It marks the true emergence 13

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of the composerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own distinctive musical voice. After a short introductory phrase, the opening motif of the theme is heard in the lower strings, before it is stated in full, to be repeated in more elaborate form, followed by a return to the opening. A solo viola introduces a melody derived from the original theme, then taken up by the first violin, and treated by the quartet more of less in the imitative contrapunctual manner of an Elizabethian fantasia. The music moves forward to a passage for the solo violin and, in counterpoint to it, the solo viola, delicately accompanied by the orchestra, skilfully deployed. The solo violin is heard again, ascending to the height, as the coda draws to a close. ÂŠ Keith Anderson

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