STRAVINSKY ’ S THE FIREBIRD
Orchestra , both under new music director Jonathon Heyward . Simone will play with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin and music director Vladimir Jurowski for the orchestra ’ s 100th anniversary celebration at the Berlin Philharmonie . She will also return with such orchestras and conductors as the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival under Fabien Gabel , the Antwerp Symphony under Elim Chan at the Concertgebouw , the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Tarmo Peltokoski , Paris ’ Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Jaap van Zweden , the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with music director Rafael Payare , the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw under Osmo Vänskä , Tokyo ’ s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada , Torino ’ s Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI with Alpesh Chauhan , and Cologne ’ s Gürzenich Orchester with Roberto Treviño . That season will also be the third and last of Simone ’ s three-year residency at the Oregon Symphony Orchestra .
In 2022 , her most recent recording was released to great acclaim , featuring late works by Rautavaara , including a world première , with the Malmö Symphony and Robert Trevino for the Ondine label . Other recordings include Shostakovich ’ s first violin concerto and Gubaidulina ’ s In Tempus praesens with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic under James Gaffigan and Reinbert de Leeuw on Challenge Classics , and a recital album of works by Mendelssohn , Janáček and Schumann with pianist Robert Kulek , also on Challenge Classics . In 2019 , Simone was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London , an honour limited to 300 former Academy students , and awarded to those musicians who have distinguished themselves within the profession .
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
By A . Kori Hill
Piotr Illich Tchaikovsky
Born : May 7 , 1840 , Votkinsk , Russia Died : November 6 , 1893 , Saint Petersburg , Russia
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR , OP . 35 [ 1878 ]
There is critical ; and then there ’ s just mean . That was Eduard Hanslick ’ s 1881 review of Piotr Illich Tchaikovsky ’ s first ( and only ) violin concerto :
“ The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is surely no ordinary talent , but rather , an inflated one , obsessed with posturing as a man of genius , and lacking all discrimination and taste … The same can be said for his new , long , and ambitious Violin Concerto . For a while it processed soberly , musically , and not mindlessly , but soon vulgarity gains the upper hand … The violin is no longer played : it is tugged about , torn , beaten black and blue …”
Thankfully , Hanslick ’ s review is now an anecdote repeated in awe and irony , rather than the first and last word . Because the concerto that required the violin to be beaten “ black and blue ” is now one of the most recorded and performed violin concertos ever written .
Completed in 1878 , the Violin Concerto in D major , Op . 35 pushed the boundaries of what is envisioned when someone says , “ violin technique .” While some performances featured edits of “ unidiomatic ” sections , performers like David Oistrakh , Isaac Stern , and Jascha Heifetz ( who also recorded the edited version ), made the work a key repertoire selection . The work has also served as a formal and musical template for new ideas and expressions . Florence Price ’ s Violin Concerto No . 1 ( 1939 ) signifies on the Tchaikovsky violin concerto at multiple levels : melodic , harmonic , phrase structure , and tonality , speaking to the growth in significance of the work just a few decades after its debut .
This concerto is full of soaring melodies and the first movement , Allegro moderato movement , is a mini concerto in itself . It ’ s not uncommon for audiences to applaud right after the rustic , fiery conclusion . Canzonetta : Andante is a short but much needed expressive respite between the virtuosic fireworks of the outer movements . In the Finale : Allegro vivacissimo , Tchaikovsky fully leans into the folk flurry , calling for swift technical gymnastics and flare . It ’ s impressive that this movements ends just as ( if not more ) bombastically than the first , bringing to close a work of stunning expression and technical breadth .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , one timpani ( one violin soloist ).
Maximilian Franz
30 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org