jmc's classics
Today is the anniversary of the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra (opus#33). It consists of 10 short pieces for solo cello and orchestra lasting about two minutes each. It is the closest that Tchaikovsky came to writing a full blown cello concerto. He wrote several other short It was pieces for solo cello and orchestra which I will get to later. The premier was in Moscow in 1877 with Nicolai Rubenstein conducting and William Fitzenhagen on the cello.
Rococo was a movement in the arts and architecture from approximately 1730-1760 from the end of the baroque period to the start of the classical period. It combined asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding and pastel colors to create the illusion of motion and drama. This movement was popular in France, Italy and parts of Germany. It spread to England and Russia. The art had an happy feel to it. Many of the German princes wanted to have a nice palace and church. This type of art was common in churches and palaces built at that time. In Music J.S. Bach and his sons as well as Couperin, Mozart, and others wrote in the Rococo style. It had a lot of Baroque influence in it. Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations does not have as much Rococo influence as is originally thought. It has 10 movements in it. He used Mozart as a role model for writing this piece. It is more of a theme of the Rococo style than Rococo in origin. Tchaikovsky used the help of German cellist and professor William Fitzenhagen in writing this piece. This piece has 10 movements: the first is the introduction and the finale. The eight movements in between is a variation on a different theme. Fitzenhagen assisted Tchaikovsky with writing the solo cello parts. The themes are: moderato semplice, tempo del tema, tempo del tema, andante sostenuto, andante grazioso, allegro moderato and andante. It typically lasts about 20 minutes. I have three copies. Two of which I purchased because of other works. The first two are on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The first is with the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich with Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. The second is with cellist Mischa Maisky and the Orphreus Chamber Orchestra. This orchestra does not use a conductor. It also includes Lynsky's Aria (from his opera Eugene Onegin) for cello and orchestra, The Nocturn for Cello and Orchestra based on a solo piece from Six Morceaux (Opus#19) , his Andante cantabile for Cello and orchestra from his String Quartet #1 (Opus #11). The next work on it is Souvenir de Florence for string sextet (Opus#70). I purchased it for the Nocturn but I fell in love with the Andante cantabile. The next on I purchased recently. for Johan Svendsen's Cello Concerto (Opus#7). It is on Dang Cord label. It is a Danish label which I know very little about. It contains Svendsen's concerto plus five other cello concertos by composers who I have not heard of. It of of the cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson. The conductor is Pierre Monteux. The variations is on one track instead of the 10 individual tracks. As I have mentioned, I like Svendsen's music. I like his Cello Concerto. There are only one or two CDs available of this work. I love the Andante cantabile. It lasts about 12 minutes. It was used in an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater entitled "The Murder Museum". With CDs of classical music it is easy sometimes to double or triple up on a work. I am glad I found this piece.
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