Prom 2 (18.07.20) Staatskapelle Dresden/Thielemann 3.00 p.m.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Staatskapelle Dresden and its Chief Conductor Christian Thielemann open with Beethoven’s most radiant, smiling work, his sublime Violin Concerto, in the sure hands of Nikolaj Znaider.

After the interval this famously rich-toned orchestra digs into Max Reger’s affectionate and beautifully orchestrated Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart and finally Richard Strauss’s witty and abrasive depiction of an impish figure from German folklore, his outlandish tone-poem telling of ‘Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks’.

Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Reger: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart
R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Nikolaj Znaider (violin)
Staatskapelle Dresden
Christian Thielemann (conductor)

(From BBC Proms 2016, 8 September)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It may be a repeat, but this is a complete concert.

A fine Strauss conductor too.

[Bryn]

"Beethoven’s most radiant, smiling work, his sublime Violin Concerto", as dismissed by Stravinsky as a poor example of the genre.

[Pulcinella]

"Beethoven’s most radiant, smiling work, his sublime Violin Concerto", as dismissed by Stravinsky as a poor example of the genre.

Right up there with Mozart's Masses then, those rococo-operatic sweets-of-sin.

[edashtav]

"Beethoven’s most radiant, smiling work, his sublime Violin Concerto", as dismissed by Stravinsky as a poor example of the genre.

It was, of course, such a short, straightforward piece that the soloist in its first performance played it having received his copy of the score just two days before!

[Bryn]

It was, of course, such a short, straightforward piece that the soloist in its first performance played it having received his copy of the score just two days before!

And had to sight-read parts of it, I gather.

[edashtav]

Stravinsky spread his dismay re violin concerti pretty widely.
I quote:
Later, in his characteristically feisty manner, the composer would observe: "The Violin Concerto was not inspired by or modelled on any example.
I do not like the standard violin concertos - not Mozart's, Beethoven's, or Brahms'.
To my mind, the only masterpiece in the field is .... "

Can you guess Igor's masterpiece?

[Bryn]

Stravinsky spread his dismay re violin concerti pretty widely.
I quote:
Later, in his characteristically feisty manner, the composer would observe: "The Violin Concerto was not inspired by or modelled on any example.
I do not like the standard violin concertos - not Mozart's, Beethoven's, or Brahms'.
To my mind, the only masterpiece in the field is .... "

Can you guess Igor's masterpiece?

No need to guess, though it did surprise me when I first read of it, more than half a century ago. Though I've since bought a revised edition, my 21st birthday present from my father was Eric Walter White's "Stravinsky: The Composer and his Works".

[Ein Heldenleben]

And had to sight-read parts of it, I gather.

Didn't he also improvise a cadenza in between the first and second movements at one point playing the violin upside down? It's funny how HIPP performances seem to gloss over how 18th and 19th cent performers used the scores as a bit of a basis for a jam session...

[Bryn]

Didn't he also improvise a cadenza in between the first and second movements at one point playing the violin upside down? It's funny how HIPP performances seem to gloss over how 18th and 19th cent performers used the scores as a bit of a basis for a jam session...

This is disputed by some who claim the hijinks with the upside-down violin came as an encore following the final movement of the concerto. It would not have been that far from common practice for something showy to be inserted between movement in those times, however. As to treating the score as the basis for a jam session. I don't think Beethoven would have been too happy with that, given his annoyance if his works were even played more slowly than he intended. Cadenzas were a different kettle of fish. There the inventiveness of the soloist was something to be looked forward to, though here, Beethoven tended to provide composed options, the lack of any cadenza in the 5th Piano Concerto being somethng of an exception.

[edashtav]

No need to guess, though it did surprise me when I first read of it, more than half a century ago. Though I've since bought a revised edition, my 21st birthday present from my father was Eric Walter White's "Stravinsky: The Composer and his Works".

I thought you'd know, Bryn ... but it was a back-handed compliment as the work IS chose was written AFTER his own V.C., no doubt to imply, there were no masterpieces around before I completed my score! Igor was less modest and more self-assured than most composers!

[bluestateprommer]

FWIW, the earlier Forum thread on this Prom from 2016:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?15409-Prom-72-8-09-16-Staatskapelle-Dresden-Christian-Thielemann-amp-Nikolaj-Znaider

I can't guess as to the concerto to which ed refers, pace IS, although I'm pretty sure that it's not by either of his two main Russian rivals Prokofiev or DSCH. But then I've learned to question almost any quote attributed to Stravinsky, because of the Robert Craft filter factor, but also because of the content of some of those quotes, like a dismissive IS assessment of Beethoven as singularly lacking in a gift for melodic invention (I'll look up the exact words later when I have a chance), an assessment much more accurately applied to Stravinsky himself. But I digress.

[edashtav]

FWIW, the earlier Forum thread on this Prom from 2016:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?15409-Prom-72-8-09-16-Staatskapelle-Dresden-Christian-Thielemann-amp-Nikolaj-Znaider

I can't guess as to the concerto to which ed refers, pace IS, although I'm pretty sure that it's not by either of his two main Russian rivals Prokofiev or DSCH. But then I've learned to question almost any quote attributed to Stravinsky, because of the Robert Craft filter factor, but also because of the content of some of those quotes, like a dismissive IS assessment of Beethoven as singularly lacking in a gift for melodic invention (I'll look up the exact words later when I have a chance), an assessment much more accurately applied to Stravinsky himself. But I digress.

We can dismiss the 2nd Prokofiev VC and DSCH's two which both appeared decades after Igor may have made his pejorative comment. To be fair, IS's man was a far greater master than his two Soviet near contemporaries ( IMHO!)

[Pulcinella]

We can dismiss the 2nd Prokofiev VC and DSCH's two which both appeared decades after Igor may have made his pejorative comment. To be fair, IS's man was a far greater master than his two Soviet near contemporaries ( IMHO!)

A concerto recently championed by Isabelle Faust and Hilary Hahn, I suspect.
Would IS have heard it in LA, or would he have seen his fairly close neighbour's score, I wonder.
I must look into its performance history if available.

[edashtav]

I think we can agree with certainty that you have the right composer of the masterly violin concerto, pulcs!