9 Jan 2025
Victor ia Concer t Hall
Grażyna Bacewicz
Suite for Two Violins
Allegro
Andante
Vivo
Tempo di menuetto
1909–1969
Allegro
Andante. Fughetta
Allegro
Grażyna Bacewicz (pronounced gra-zhuh-na ba-tseh-vich) was a Polish composer and violinist who flourished in the middle of the 20th century despite the terrors of war, choosing to remain in Poland after completing studies in Paris in the inter-war period. As an esteemed violinist herself, a sizable part of her output included the violin, and the Suite for Two Violins makes full use of her deep knowledge of the instrument.
A short work split into seven movements, it is firmly rooted in the “neoclassical” music that composers like Stravinsky were writing in the 1920s and 30s. It splits its influences between European art music and the folk-like duets of Bartók, also dating from the same period. As the occupying Nazi government kept strict control of musical life, an underground musical movement sprung up around Bacewicz and her colleagues and friends, where they organised numerous secret performances of suppressed Polish music. It was at one such event in Warsaw, in 1943, that this Suite was first performed.
The first movement, simply marked Allegro, is a dance-like toccata starting out in C major but veering quickly into more biting chromatic territory. The following Andante is a lyrical serenade, much thinner in texture, providing some contrast before the Vivo, which is more like a bright gigue. The quasi-Baroque element is in full display here, as it is in the next movement: explicitly a minuet, the violins get to play around pedal notes on open strings, which provides a lovely rustic atmosphere. With the fifth movement, another Allegro, we are firmly back on Stravinsky-like toccata turf, with some very virtuosic double-stopping from both players.
The only other movement with a definite formal reference, the sixth movement is a little fugue (Fughetta), and this time the sinuous chromatic lines of both players are fully from the 20th-century soundworld, sounding like some of the other great violinist-composers of that era (Ysaÿe wrote a sonata for two violins, and Enescu a lot of highly folk-tinted violin music). After that emotional turmoil, the final movement is almost slight in comparison, with a much brighter and lighter sound, wrapping the whole suite up in the C major with which it started.
Alexander Glazunov
Five Novelettes , Op. 15
I
II
III
Alla spagnuola. Allegretto
Orientale. Allegro con brio
Interludium in modo antico.
Andante
1865–1936
V VI
Valse. Allegretto
All’ Ungherese. Allegretto
Alexander Glazunov, perhaps most famous for being responsible for premiering Rachmaninoff’s first symphony while a drunken mess, was actually a very considerable composer himself. Outside his conducting mishaps and his alcoholism, Glazunov was successful at melding the burgeoning nationalism from the Mighty Handful group of composers with the Western-looking attitudes of Tchaikovsky, especially taking on Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliant orchestration and Borodin’s sense of grand scale and combining them with his own contrapuntal sureness. His most successful student was Shostakovich, though their views would soon diverge, and Glazunov would continue writing old-fashioned “Romantic” music up until his death in 1936.
Eagle-eared listeners might spot a familiar Rachmaninoff moment in the opening of the Alla spagnuola (“In a Spanish style”): also in 9/8, Rachmaninoff uses almost the same melody in the final movement of his Symphonic Dances many decades later, sharing a common ancestor in the Dies irae requiem plainchant. However, Glazunov was only 21 when he wrote this work, and death could not
The occasional chromatic harmonies thrown in are simply [Glazunov’s] very cosmopolitan musical education showing through. “
be further from his mind: the first movement is a lyrical outpouring, full of sweet harmonies, that would almost become his signature tonal sound, and the second, titled Orientale, is full of open fifth drones supporting a tarantella. The reference here is no further east than his own native Russia, of course, and the occasional chromatic harmonies thrown in are simply his very cosmopolitan musical education showing through.
The Interludium “in an ancient mode” refers to the use of the Dorian mode, a restriction that Glazunov sticks to even when modulating. The white-note harmony is an aural palette-cleanser, and the tightly interwoven lines demonstrate how good Glazunov was at drawing inspiration from older styles of music, right down to the Picardy-third ending with a D major chord. The following waltz has him in full 19th-century mode, and this waltz would not be out of place in his later balletic masterpieces. Also a dance, the finale is Hungarian in flavour, and its main body draws from the csárdás, a shoe-slapping circle dance.
A taste for Hungarian music swept through Europe in the second half of the century, leading various composers to write sets of Hungarian dances, and this is firmly in that line of musical fashion. From the syncopated rhythms down to the slow rhapsodic section that forms a contrasting centre to the movement, Glazunov wraps his youthful string quartet up with great aplomb.
Mikhail Glinka
Grand Sextet in E-flat Major 1804–1857
Allegro Andante [attacca]
Finale: Allegro con spirito
[Glinka] eventually decided that his musical calling was to write music for Russia. “
Written when he was in the poor health of his youth, the Grand Sextet is Glinka’s great outpouring of love to a married Italian woman — the daughter of his own doctor! Glinka himself recalled their final meeting as having “unpleasant weather, which indeed more or less matched our low spirits”, since his good doctor put a stop to the gossip. Glinka eventually dedicated the work to another lady instead, moved to Vienna and then Berlin, and embarked on serious music studies. As one of his last Italianate works, it is highly influenced by the brilliant operatic music of the Italian bel canto tradition, and there is much in this work that sounds like Donizetti and Bellini. He eventually decided that his musical calling was to write music for Russia in the same way the Italian masters wrote Italian music: he wanted to develop a Russian manner, and less than five years later, A Life for the Tsar opened to great acclaim.
The Italian character of this work is immediately evident, with the first movement opening with a bold theme on the piano, which stands slightly apart from the rest of the ensemble for the rest of the piece. The movement progresses in a conventional sonata form, and the second theme is introduced by the cello. The piano’s dominance is further solidified in the second movement, which opens with a piano solo in Chopinesque manner, full of sparkling right-hand figurations. The middle section switches focus to a slightly limping violin solo, reminiscent of a gypsy song, to which the second violin adds some harmony, almost like an operatic duet.
Glinka segues straight into the third movement, suddenly turning toward the minor, before modulating back to a bright E-flat major for a finale full of virtuosic playing from all involved. Almost symphonic in scale, unexpected syncopations and cross-accents are traded among the ensemble before the second theme comes in. Unabashedly operatic in character, with a really typical Italian accompaniment rhythm (especially with the thumping pizzicato strings!), the pianist is really put through their paces in this section, with fantastically brilliant writing. The energy continues unabated through several chromatic modulations, with all players contributing their utmost, pushing the music to a great climax and a grand ending.
Thomas Ang
Programme notes by
Upcoming concerts at the Victoria Concert Hall
Light to Night Festival
17 – 26 Jan 2025
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Eroica
24 & 25 Jan 2025 I 7.30pm
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Julian Kuerti conductor
Yu-Chien Benny Tseng violin
Fanfare: Brass, Percussion and Carmen
28 Feb & 1 Mar 2025 I 7.30pm
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Hans Graf Music Director
Albert Tiu piano
For more details, visit sso.org.sg/whats-on.
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