RUSSIAN ROMANTICS

Program Information

Artist Bios

GIANCARLO GUERRERO conductor

OLGA KERN piano

Program Notes

BY LAURIE SHULMAN, ©2010

FIRST NORTH AMERICAN SERIAL RIGHTS ONLY

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Born April 1, 1873 in Oneg, Novgorod district, Russia

Died March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California

Movie music

“Rach Three,” as this splendid concerto has come to be known, got a big shot in the arm in 1996 with the release of Australian director Scott Hicks film Shine. Geoffrey Rush won an Academy Award for best actor in his portrayal of the emotionally disturbed pianist David Helfgott. The soundtrack featured Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto prominently, making it that year’s best known piece of classical music.

Such integration of classical music into popular culture can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it introduces an enormous untapped audience to the excitement and emotional power of symphonic music. On the other hand, film scores run the risk of cheapening a piece, whether by doing “surgery” to shorten a movement’s length, or by excessive repetition along the lines of top-40 radio. Like its older sibling, the popular Second Piano Concerto, “Rach Three” is an audience favorite. The beauty of both these works is that they still retain considerable freshness.

Rachmaninoff the self-promoter

As with all Rachmaninoff's piano concerti, the Third was a major vehicle for his own performing career.  He composed it during the summer of 1909, while on holiday in Russia at his family's country villa, Ivanovka.  Rachmaninoff was preparing for his first American tour, where he planned to unveil the new work. Rachmaninoff introduced the Third Concerto in 1909 during his first American concert tour, playing it with Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony and, later, with Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic. (Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at that performance!)

Structurally and melodically, this Concerto is on par with the ever-popular Second Concerto.  In many ways this is the more polished work. Rachmaninoff had eight years' additional experience and was riding the exhilarating momentum of the earlier concerto’s enormous success. Still young, his mind's ear was filled with dozens of musical ideas.  On manuscript paper, they emerged with a better command of structural logic in his music.  Despite its length—the Third Concerto runs between 40 and 45 minutes in performance—this is a disciplined and well-thought out piece. Rachmaninoff's gift for extended, passionate themes is in full flower, and he maintains a healthy balance of different moods.

Influence of Liszt

When he was the soloist with an orchestra, Rachmaninoff favored the concertos of Tchaikovsky and Liszt if he was not playing one of his own. The concept of thematic unity among movements, pioneered by Liszt, seems to have exerted an influence on Rachmaninoff in composing his Third Concerto. The fiery third movement (which ensues without pause from the reverent Intermezzo), reiterates the rhythm of the opening theme.

Gemini cadenzas

An unusual structural element of the concerto is the cadenza, which exists in two versions whose second parts coalesce. The first, shorter one emphasizes complex passage work, while the second, a massive 75 bars, requires both strength and stamina for extensive chordal playing. Both are wonderful musically and pianistically. Some pianists choose the briefer version, believing it expresses a more succinct and musically sensitive aspect of Rachmaninoff’s keyboard personality. Others prefer the thunderous drama of the 75-bar version. Ms. Kern has both cadenzas in her repertoire; for these performances, she has chosen the longer one.

In ambition and textural variety, both cadenzas demonstrate Rachmaninoff's dazzling achievement  in innovative piano technique and composition, drawing on motives clearly related to the transparent opening theme. The placement of the cadenza follows an expanded development section that is also particularly brilliant for the soloist.  Rachmaninoff was playing and composing splendidly when he wrote this concerto.  The finesse of his orchestration, particularly in the use of woodwinds, and the sparkle and power of his solo part attest to the explosive growth he was experiencing both as performer and as composer. 

Rach Three's bravura passage work and monumental scale have made it a Mount Everest of the piano concerto literature.

The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, side drum, cymbals, bass drum, solo piano and strings. Timing: approximately 44 minutes.

Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

Born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Viatka district, Russia

Died November 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg

High-maintenance composer

Tchaikovsky was the quintessential neurotic. As disdainful as we might be of that condition, his transference of neurosis into music is precisely the quality that makes him the most popular composer of all in the concert hall. We love his music because it makes no bones about being emotional, forthright, direct and sometimes over-the-top. Something in his melodies and orchestration and expressivity reaches deep within our souls.

Mid-life crisis

In fact, Tchaikovsky did lead a tumultuous life that was chock full of exciting, sometimes cataclysmic events. The Fourth Symphony is a prime example, not only dating from a chaotic time of emotional havoc in his life, but also mirroring his struggle with that havoc. By the symphony’s conclusion, we have a sense that, at least temporarily, he has bested adverse circumstances, finding acceptance, resolution and even triumph.

The Fourth Symphony is directly linked to the momentous events of the year 1877, when he began his remarkable correspondence with Nadejhda Filaretovna von Meck, the wealthy patron who was to provide both emotional sustenance (via her letters) and financial security to the composer for more than a decade. The same year, a former student of Tchaikovsky's wrote to him with declarations of love and threats of suicide, inexplicably prompting him to propose to her, marry her and then leave her within a matter of months.  Desperate for emotional stability and wrestling with the torment of his homosexuality, Tchaikovsky sought refuge in countryside, correspondence, and composition.

Though sketches for the Fourth Symphony were substantially complete before the abortive marriage,  its history cannot be separated from the anguish of those few unfortunate summer months.  More and more, Tchaikovsky turned to Mme. von Meck for spiritual guidance, as confidante, as muse.  The F minor symphony was the first work he dedicated to her, and he called it “our symphony” in their correspondence.

Symphonic program revealed in letters

The nickname “Fate Symphony” comes from Tchaikovsky's writings. In a letter to von Meck, he sketched a program, identifying the opening fanfare as “Fate . . . the sword of Damocles that hangs over our head," and describing the main theme as “feelings of depression and hopelessness.” The second theme group he called “dream world. . . escape from reality.” How appallingly real all this must have seemed to him upon realizing the magnitude of the mistake he had made in marrying! The first movement is long and complicated—and shattering.

Tchaikovsky effects a necessary change in atmosphere with a plaintive oboe solo in the Andantino in modo di canzona, supported initially by pizzicato strings. Eventually the celli, solo bassoon and violins have their turn at the oboe’s elegant theme.

In many ways the most successful and individual movement is the scherzo, which features the orchestra section by section: first the entire string complement in a virtuoso pizzicato display, then woodwinds in lyric contrast, then boisterous brass. The three groups are brilliantly interwoven to conclude the movement.

Cyclic finale: references to the earlier movements

An orchestral exclamation point ushers in the finale, enhanced by triangle, cymbals and bass drum. If we weren’t persuaded about the clouds dissipating in the scherzo, Tchaikovsky leaves no doubt now. He plunges us headlong into a village festival—initially. Eventually he reminds us of the power of fate, restating the fanfare from the first movement. The finale also recalls elements from the second and third movements. Lethargy evaporates in the fiery, exciting conclusion—but Tchaikovsky’s preoccupation with fate and its effect on human destiny is the message that lingers in the powerful Fourth Symphony.

The score calls for woodwinds in pairs plus piccolo, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum and strings. Timing: approximately 44 minutes.