{ Program Notes
“When I was composing Water of
Life, I had two things in mind. The first
is biblical references about ‘water’ and
‘water of life.’ I have served as a church
organist for many years, and verses
about life-giving water have always
inspired me.
“ ‘Then the angel showed me the river
of the water of life, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and of
the Lamb … ’—Revelations 22:1
“The second is ‘water’ in nature. I
wanted to project images of various phases
of water and shimmering light with
orchestral sounds. The music gradually
changes just as the water flows continuously and never in the same phase.
“The beginning of the piece played
by harp and strings suggests the birth
of pure water. The music then flows
freely with a pleasant feeling of pulse.
It gradually grows into turbulence and
muddiness that, in the end, becomes
filtered into purity.
“Water of Life is a prayer for the tsunami victims in Japan.”
Instrumentation: Two flutes, oboe, English
horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns,
two trumpets, three trombones, percussion,
harp, piano, celesta and strings.
Dave H o ffman n
The BSO
28 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat
Minor, opus 23
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840; died in
St. Petersburg, Russia, November 6, 1893
If one had to pick one work that epitomizes the Romantic piano concerto, it
would have to be Tchaikovsky’s First.
Written in 1874–1875, it was the first
Russian piano concerto to enter the
standard concert repertoire, and it has
remained perhaps the most popular
concerto ever written. Even Rachmaninoff ’s celebrated piano concertos
were closely modeled on it.
But the first person to hear it pronounced it a failure. This was Nikolai
Rubinstein, renowned pianist and
conductor, founder of the Moscow
Conservatory, and usually Tchaikovsky’s staunch friend and supporter.
Not being a concert pianist himself,
Tchaikovsky had brought the concerto
to Rubinstein on Christmas Eve, 1874
for advice as to how to make the solo
part most effective. This is how the
composer remembered the occasion:
“I played the first movement. Not a
single word, not a single comment!
… I summoned all my patience and
played through to the end. Still silence.
I stood up and asked, ‘Well?’ “
“Then a torrent poured forth from
Nikolai Gregorievich’s mouth … My
concerto, it turned out, was worthless
and unplayable — passages so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written as
to be beyond rescue — the music itself
was bad, vulgar — here and there I had
stolen from other composers — only
two or three pages were worth preserving — the rest must be thrown out or
completely rewritten. … This was censure, indiscriminate, and deliberately
designed to hurt me to the quick. … ‘I
shall not alter a single note,’ I replied.
‘I shall publish the work exactly as it
stands!’ And this I did.”
Although this episode threw Tchaikovsky into a depression, he still had
energy and faith enough in his work
to submit the concerto to Hans von
Bülow, a German pianist-conductor as
famous as Rubinstein who was looking
for a new showpiece for his upcoming
American tour. Von Bülow took on the
work with enthusiasm and played its
world premiere on October 25, 1875
in Boston. The Bostonians gave it a
tumultuous reception, and the First
Piano Concerto never looked back.
This is a concerto in which gorgeous,
inventive orchestral writing meets one
of the great virtuoso piano parts of
the repertoire. And it is enriched by a
cornucopia of marvelous Tchaikovskian melodies, the first of which forms
the introduction to movement one.
Launched by Tchaikovsky’s beloved
horns, it sweeps grandly through the
orchestra. The pianist makes his presence strongly felt with massive chords
ringing from bottom to top of the
keyboard. This big Romantic opening
eventually fades, and a melody that
most composers would kill for is gone,
never to return.
In the first of several dramatic mood
shifts, the pianist now attacks a quick,
skittish tune, based on a Ukrainian
folksong, which is the movement’s actual
principal theme. In another emotional
shift, clarinets introduce a new melody,