Overture Magazine - 2018-19 Season BSO_Overture_NOV_DEC | Page 25

VIOLINIST JOSHUA BELL
The recapitulation brings back the
surging violin theme and intensifies its
anguish. Suddenly the tension subsides,
and Vaughan Williams moves into one of
his symphonic innovations: the hushed,
slow-tempo epilogue with which he
closed most of his symphonies, but not
this one. Despite this music’s gentleness,
the lower strings are actually playing that
savage march theme in an extraordinary
transformation.
Opening with muted brass and
woodwinds intoning the angular,
climbing second motto, the
predominantly quiet slow movement
continues this respite. Though beautiful,
this music is not really serene: its grave,
contrapuntal melodies for violins and
various woodwind soloists twist in
chromatic torment above an ominous
pizzicato bass line. Periodic jabs of the
climbing motto by the brass further
destabilize it. At the end, a lonely flute
sings a sorrowful dirge that slowly
descends; its last note hauntingly misses
the F that would bring it home.
The third movement erupts in brutal
contrast. Building its initial theme from
both mottos, this rollicking scherzo
delights in rhythmic conflict. Its middle
trio section boasts this Symphony’s only
robustly British tune. After the scherzo’s
reprise, Vaughan Williams “cribs” again
from Beethoven, this time from the drum
passage that links movements three and
four in his Fifth Symphony. But this
bridge passage is more disturbing: the
drum beats sound truly warlike.
The light at the end of Vaughan
Williams’ tunnel is not as bright and
triumphant as it was for Beethoven.
Instead, a fierce descending theme
(derived from the second movement’s flute
solo) slams into a relentless march based
on the first motto. We also hear a lighter,
bustling theme. This music reaches a wild,
rhythmically unhinged climax.
It is succeeded by a glimpse of peace:
calmly contemplative, slow-tempo music
for strings. In a conventional Vaughan
Williams symphony, we might now
expect a drift into a quiet epilogue.
Instead, the composer creates an “Epilogo
fugato”: a big fugal coda based on the
screaming first motto and drawing in the
finale’s march theme as well. But all this
contrapuntal energy cannot resolve the
Symphony’s rage. The opening dissonant
screams return, followed by an angry,
triple-forte slam of the door.
Instrumentation: Three flutes including piccolo,
three oboes including English horn, two clarinets,
bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon,
four horns, two trumpets, three trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3 IN B MINOR
Camille Saint-Saëns
Born in Paris, France, October 9, 1835; died in
Algiers, Algeria, December 16, 1921
One day in 1859, a 15-year-old Spanish
violin prodigy came calling on Camille
Saint-Saëns, then just 24 himself and only
recently out of his own prodigy years.
The violinist was Pablo de Sarasate, and
he would become one of the legendary
virtuosos of the 19th century. “He had
come to ask me, in the most casual
manner imaginable, to write a concerto for
him,” the French composer remembered.
“Greatly flattered and delighted at the
request, I gave him a promise and kept my
word with the Concerto in A Major [the
Violin Concerto No. 1].”
A friendship immediately developed
between the two artists that would
continue for decades and inspire
three more major works for Sarasate,
including the very popular Introduction
and Rondo capriccioso of 1863 and Saint-
Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 of 1880.
Sarasate was renowned for his elegance
and beautiful sound. Another famous
violinist, Leopold Auer, described it
as “a tone of supreme singing quality,”
while conductor Hans von Bülow
remembered the Spaniard’s “seductive
speaking on the violin.” Sarasate’s
technique seemed effortless, and he
was able to reach the highest notes with
unerring accuracy. Saint-Saëns exploited
all these qualities in the Third Violin
Concerto, bequeathing a formidable
challenge to future violinists.

In sonata form, movement one mixes
drama with lyricism. Over a suspenseful
string tremolo and the rumble of drums,
the violinist opens with big declamatory
gestures in the instrument’s earthy low
register and then gradually ascends to its
silvery top. Although Saint-Saëns believed
the ideal concerto should be an equal
balance between orchestra and soloist,
there is no question that in this movement
the violinist is the star. Soon silky lyricism
takes over in melodies emphasizing the
violin’s loveliest singing tone. The music
is sprinkled with vertiginous leaps onto
ethereal, high-altitude pitches that are
often very soft and sustained; Saint-Saëns
custom-tailored these feats to Sarasate’s
special abilities.
The melodious second movement is
a lilting barcarole in 6/8 meter, with
the violin singing a romantic Venetian
gondolier’s song above the orchestra’s
rocking-boat accompaniment. Here
Saint-Saëns achieves his ideal balance
between orchestra and soloist as a series
of exquisite woodwind solos echo the
violin. In an extraordinary closing
cadenza, he pairs the violin — using
flute-like harmonics to achieve yet higher
altitudes — with a deep-toned clarinet in
flights of ghostly arpeggios.
As the finale begins, the violin issues
yet another dramatic challenge to the
orchestra, and the ensemble rouses itself
in a series of stormy crescendos. We seem
to be in Italy still as the violin launches
a lively tarantella dance. But Saint-Saëns
has more compelling melodies up his
sleeve: first, a broad, sweeping melody
for the soloist expressing passionate joy;
and later — in the middle development
section — a radiant chorale first sung
by the orchestral violins. After the
opening music recapitulates, this chorale
will return in a very different guise,
proclaimed proudly by the brass section.
But it is the sweeping theme of joy that
ultimately carries soloist and orchestra
over the finish line.
Instrumentation: Two flutes including piccolo,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two
horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani
and strings.
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