Vladivostok, Primorsky Stage, Chamber Hall

Yu-Chien Tseng (violin)

Laureate of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition

PERFORMANCE:
Yu-Chien Tseng (violin, Taiwan) — Laureate of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition
Sergei Redkin (piano, Russia) — Laureate of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition

PROGRAMME:
Giuseppe Tartini
Violin Sonata in G minor Devil’s Trill

Johannes Brahms
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

Henryk Wieniawski
Theme original varié, Op. 15

About the Concert

Legends of a connection to an unnatural and dark power have surrounded violinists since the days of yore. Virtuosic playing used to so shock listeners that they could think of no better explanation than that the violinist had made a pact with the devil — all the more so since possession of a violin was considered to be one of the devil’s attributes. Pietro Locatelli’s playing was called “devilish” in the 18th century, and a hundred years later, the same was said about Niccolo Paganini. A similar motif appears in the history of the composition of Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in G minor. A brilliant virtuoso and teacher as well a reformer of violin performance in general, Tartini was also a prolific composer. He wrote more than a hundred violin concertos and several dozen sonatas, among which his Sonata in G minor is the most popular. As the legend goes (perhaps first proposed by the composer himself), Tartini heard this music in a dream performed by the devil, and then woke up and wrote it down. At first glance, however, the sonata does not sound “devilish” at all. Rather, it follows the canonical form of the baroque era church sonata: four movements alternating between fast and slow tempi. The opening siciliana transforms into a lively Allegro, after which there is a short slow episode with the sub-heading “the author’s dream”. The “devil’s trill” appears in the finale of the sonata, where the musician maintains a trill on one string while producing a melodic line on another string. This produces a memorable effect but at the same time incredible technical demands which only the most skillful performers are able to reproduce.

Vladimir Khavrov

Johannes Brahms began to compose his Sonata No 3 in D Minor in 1886, the same year that he wrote his Second Sonata, though it was only completed two years later and it was entirely different to its “elder sister.” It is like a four-movement symphony in miniature. Every single note has weight and it is as if each has a free will of its own. In the dramatic first movement Brahms uses very low notes from the piano together with incredibly high notes from the violin, expanding as much as possible the range of the ensemble. In the second movement, it is only twice – in the culminations – that the violin is permitted to depart from the lower register. Correspondingly, the piano sounds muffled and restrained. The third movement is a carefree scherzo. Were it not for the composer’s remark “con sentimento,” this capricious music could have been considered fantastical.

The sonata’s powerful finale goes far beyond the realms of chamber music, and this can be sensed in the very scale of its principal theme. The secondary theme is a chorale and it is led by the piano. The peaceful flow does not last long. The Third Sonata is one of strong passions, and even its chorale is filled with lyrical emotions by the time it reaches the tenth bar.

Anna Bulycheva

Johan Sebastian Bach
Partita for Violin Solo № 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

The three sonatas and three partitas composed by Johan Sebastian Bach no later than in 1720 in Köthen gave a powerful impetus to the development of unaccompanied violin music. Similar developments were being made not long before those of Bach by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Georg Pisendel and other musicians, but it was his example that went on to inspire many composers, right up to Bartok, to create new works for solo violin. Bach loved to give one soloist tasks, which usually required a whole ensemble. It was he who created the Italian Concerto for solo harpsichord (without orchestra!) and a trio sonata for one organ (without the ensemble instruments!). Bach also gave the violinist tasks of unbelievable difficulty: it is little wonder that transcriptions of sonatas and partitas for other instruments were taken on by such luminaries as Schumann, Mendelssohn and Busoni, indeed Bach himself reworked several pieces for other instrument groups.

The famous Chaconne, the final part of the Partitia № 2 which follows the Allemanda, Corrente, Sarabanda and Giga has acquired great fame since the very beginning of the "Bach Renaissance" of the 19th Century. The prototypes of this large-scale piece were German compositions for organ or French works for orchestra.

Anna Bulycheva

Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski gained the reputation of the top rank performer as a young man. In the 1850s and 1860s he gave concerts in major European cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in 1862 Anton Rubinstein invited him to lead the violin class at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory. Joint concerts of Rubinstein and Wieniawski became a notable event in the American musical life of the 1870s. Like many artists of the time, Wieniawski composed music for his instrument himself. His heritage includes two concerti for violin and orchestra as well as numerous pieces, which today are part of the repertoire of violinists around the world. Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 15, were written by the composer at the age of 19, however by that time he already was an experienced musician and a virtuoso violin player. Using the one’s own theme for variations is uncommon; normally they are based on a familiar tune, for instance, from a popular opera. The main theme written as a graceful gavotte is preceded with an introduction where the violin plays unaccompanied. Three major variations and the coda give the soloist an opportunity to demonstrate their skills to the full: the violin part includes cantilena episodes as well as passages, flageolets, double stops and other virtuoso techniques.

Vladimir Khavrov
Age category 6+

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