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TCHAIKOVSKY: Suites No. 3 and No. 4, 'Mozartiana'

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TCHAIKOVSKY: Suites No. 3 and No. 4, 'Mozartiana'

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Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) Suite No.3 in G Major, Op. 55 Suite No.4 in G Major ("Mozartiana"), Op. 61 Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky...

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Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Suite No.3 in G Major, Op. 55

Suite No.4 in G Major ("Mozartiana"), Op. 61

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky belonged to the first generation of Russian composers to have the undoubted advantage of professional musical training at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, newly established by Anton Rubinstein, under the patronage of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. Abandoning the career intended for him, as an official in the Ministry of Justice, he turned to music, and followed his studies with employment on the staff of the new Moscow Conservatory, directed by Nikolai Rubinstein, brother of the founder of the institution in St. Petersburg. Diffident in character, and subject to acute nervous depression, he suffered considerably from an unfortunate marriage, contracted in 1877 in an ingenuous attempt to conceal his own homosexual inclinations, a match followed by immediate separation and divorce.

For some years Tchaikovsky enjoyed the moral and financial support of a rich widow, Nadezhda von Meck. a woman he was never to meet, although he stayed at her estate in Brailov during her absence. Her help allowed him to withdraw from the drudgery of teaching at the Moscow Conservatory and to devote himself to composition.

With her he continued to exchange letters which reveal something of the thoughts and feelings behind the music he was writing.

It has been suggested that Tchaikovsky's death, in 1893, was suicide, forced upon him by a court of honour of former students of the School of Jurisprudence to avoid a threatened scandal, resulting from a liaison with the son of a nobleman. Whatever the truth of this, the official cause of death, announced as cholera, enabled his passing to be mourned as it should have been, his achievement in Russian music having become increasingly apparent at home and abroad. Tchaikovsky might have appeared to Vienna critics such as Eduard Hanslick as irredeemably Russian. At home, however, he wore a much more cosmopolitan air than the group of avowedly nationalist composers with their self-appointed leaders Balakirev and Cesar Cui, declared enemies of the Rubinsteins and the "German" training offered by the Conservatories.

In the early summer of 1884 Tchaikovsky was staying at Kamenka, the estate of his brother-in-law Lev Davidov. He had already achieved much, and yet, in his habitual manner, he was again questioning his own powers as a composer, fearing that he had nothing left to say. Entries in his diary in May express these anxieties, as he struggled with the composition of the third of his orchestral suites. In fact the work, particularly in its final set of variations, was to prove one of his most effective. On its first performance, which took place in St. Petersburg in January 1885, it was an instant success.

The Elegie, which forms the first movement, replaced Tchaikovsky's original conception, Contrastes, something that he had found intractable and detestably commonplace. The movement combines subtle colouring of orchestration with the composer's great melodic facility, in music of serene happiness, inspired, perhaps, by his growing affection for his young nephew Bob Davidov, an infatuation recorded in his diaries. The Waltz of the second movement seems also to have caused considerable trouble.

It opens with ominous hints of sadness, dispelled by the turn that the opening melody takes, with its suggestions of Russian folk-song. There is a middle section of greater intensity, before the opening mood is restored. The third movement, a Scherzo, with a contrasted central section, is in the rhythm of a tarantelle and is followed by a Theme and Variations, the best known movement in the whole suite. The characteristically Russian theme is followed by twelve variations. The first of these combines the melody played by the plucked strings with a fascinating countersubject entrusted to flutes and clarinets.

This is followed by a variation of feverish activity and a third in which flute and second clarinet share the melody, with a woodwind accompaniment. A fourth variation brings with it the suggestion of a ballet, with its romantic B minor key and colourful orchestration.

A fugal version of the material comes next, succeeded by a brief and energetic dance. The seventh variation brings the serenity of a liturgical chant for the woodwind, while the eighth allows a cor anglais its version of the melody. Melancholy is dispersed in the variation that follows, ending with a cadenza for solo violin, to introduce a variation principally for the violin and replete I with choreographic implications. The whole orchestra joins in the penultimate variation, interrupted by a drum-roll and fanfares to usher in a final extended Polacca, a festive and elaborate section, of symphonic proportions.

The fourth and final suite written by Tchaikovsky was composed in 1887. He had first entertained the idea of writing a suite based on pieces by Mozart in 1884. The impetus for putting the project into practice came with the imminence of the centenary of the first performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, due to fall on 29th October 1887. The completed suite was first performed at a Russian Music Society concert in Moscow on 26th November. Tchaikovsky made use of four pieces by Mozart. For the first movement he chose the Gigue that Mozart had written in the music-book of a Leipzig organist in 1789. He followed this keyboard piece with an arrangement of a Minuet from 1780. The third movement is based on Liszt's keyboard transcription of Mozart's Ave verum, introduced here by woodwind and harp, followed by muted strings in a confection far enough removed from Mozart's original conception. The final movement takes Mozart's variations on Gluck's Unser dumme Pobel meint. The ten variations allow Tchaikovsky to employ all the varied and delicate colouring of his orchestral palette, with a violin cadenza leading to the ninth and a clarinet cadenza before the same instrument leads to the return of the original theme. The suite, eventually known as Mozartiana, in spite of the composer's earlier misgivings, is pure Tchaikovsky in texture, his tribute to a composer that he regarded as his God and an attempt to introduce to a wider public keyboard pieces by Mozart that at the time were relatively little known.

National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland

The RT� Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1947 as part of the Radio and Television service in Ireland. With its membership coming from France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Russia, it drew together a rich blend of European culture. Apart from its many symphony concerts, the orchestra came to world-wide attention with its participation in the famous Wexford Opera Festival, an event broadcast in many parts of the world. The orchestra now enjoys the facilities of a fine new concert hall in central Dublin, where it performs with the world's leading conductors and soloists. In 1990 the RT� Symphony Orchestra was augmented and renamed the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Under its Principal Conductor, George Hurst, it quickly established itself as one of Europe's most adventurous orchestras with programmes featuring many 20th century compositions. The orchestra has now embarked upon an extensive recording project for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels and will record music by Nielsen, Tchaikovsky, Goldmark, Rachmaninov, Brian and Scriabin.

Stefan Sanderling

Stefan Sanderling, General Music Director of the Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera in Potsdam, was born in 1964, and received his early musical training from his father, the distinguished conductor Kurt Sanderling, and his mother, a professor of double bass at the Berlin Musikhochschule. As a child he studied first the piano then the clarinet and continued his training at the Leipzig Conservatory, under the aegis of Kurt Masur. In 1983 he began to assist Rolf Reuter at the Berlin Komische Opera and continued his studies in 1985 in Halle, where he worked as Assistant Conductor at the Opera after completing his course. From 1988 until 1990 he was in the United States of America, studying at the University of Southern California, participating in the Summer Concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and conducting at the Tanglewood Summer Music festival, where he worked with Bernstein and Ozawa. In 1990 he returned to Germany to take up the position of Chief Conductor of the Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, a remarkable achievement for one so young. Engagements have included appearances with the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Dresden, Rotterdam and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Disc 1

Suite No. 3 in G major, Op. 55

(more info)

Performed by: Ireland National Symphony Orchestra
Composed by: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Conducted by: Stefan Sanderling
Audrey Park, violin
Recording date: 3-4 September 1992
Produced by: Craker, Chris

I. Elegie - 10:42
II. Valse melancolique - 6:18
III. Scherzo - 5:05
IV. Tema con variazioni - 21:07

Suite No. 4 in G major, Op. 61, "Mozartiana"

(more info)

Performed by: Ireland National Symphony Orchestra
Composed by: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Conducted by: Stefan Sanderling
Audrey Park, violin
Recording date: 2-3 March 1993
Produced by: Craker, Chris

I. Gigue - 2:08
II. Menuet - 4:17
III. Preghiera - 3:22
IV. Theme et variations - 15:00

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Composer(s):
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich

Conductor(s):
Sanderling, Stefan

Orchestra(s):
Ireland National Symphony Orchestra

Artist(s):
Park, Audrey

Label: Naxos Classics
UPC: 730099572828
Item Number: 8550728
Release Date: May 24, 1994