PO3 Philharmonia from the RFH

[Jonathan Swain]

A surprise (for me) at the close of the Violin Concerto: Bartok’s rarely heard original ending, where the soloist retires to let the orchestra take the final honours with probably the most outrageous/brazen (and generally mind boggling) brass writing anywhere in Bartok. The revised ending sounds positively well behaved in comparison! Salonen also opted for the original ending in his mid 90s recording with Viktoria Mullova and the LAPO, though I haven’t kept up to date with more recent recordings of the Concerto to hear if anyone else has followed suit.

[salymap]

Now I must listen to the concerto on iplayer tomorrow. Thanks JS.

[Jonathan Swain]

You’re welcome Saly. Speaking of the brass, in the Concerto for Orchestra, there was also the rudest trombone raspberry I’ve heard blown in the direction of Shostakovich (in the Intermezzo). But was it a raspberry at Shostakovich, as everyone seems to claim? According to Bartok’s pupil Ferenc Fricsay, the hidden dramatic content of this Intermezzo, as related by Bartok to another of his pupils, the pianist Gyorg Sandor, is that of a lover's serenade interrupted by a company of drunks and a swaggering, jackbooted tyrant who whistles a trivial melody - a melody that closely resembles a jolly tune from the Merry Widow by Lehar…. ???

[salymap]

I've just listened as best I can [tinnitus] to the concerto.The ending sounds quite different, i think it would take me a time to get used to it but interesting.

The raspberry in the Concerto for orchestra raised a few laughs when I first heard the work at the RFH before the sound was modified in some way. It was so very rude

[Petrushka]

You’re welcome Saly. Speaking of the brass, in the Concerto for Orchestra, there was also the rudest trombone raspberry I’ve heard blown in the direction of Shostakovich (in the Intermezzo). But was it a raspberry at Shostakovich, as everyone seems to claim? According to Bartok’s pupil Ferenc Fricsay, the hidden dramatic content of this Intermezzo, as related by Bartok to another of his pupils, the pianist Gyorg Sandor, is that of a lover's serenade interrupted by a company of drunks and a swaggering, jackbooted tyrant who whistles a trivial melody - a melody that closely resembles a jolly tune from the Merry Widow by Lehar…. ???

I've never been convinced by the Shostakovich connection in the Intermezzo and have long believed the melody greeted with orchestral laughter to be from The Merry Widow. Having said that, however, it is possible that DSCH was himself mocking this very same melody in a jocular family reference to his son, Maxim, as in 'Let's go to Maxim's...'

[Chris Newman]

An interesting connection with DSCH's son, Petrushka. I have always thought DSCH was digging at Lehar, who was, sadly, a favourite composer of Hitler. Thankyou, Jonathan, for the note about Fricsay and Sandor.