Serenades Tchaikovsky | Elgar | Mozart
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SERENADES TCHAIKOVSKY | ELGAR | MOZART ZÜRCHER KAMMERORCHESTER DANIEL HOPE SERENADES TCHAIKOVSKY | ELGAR | MOZART ZÜRCHER KAMMERORCHESTER DANIEL HOPE 2 PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Serenade for Strings in C major op. 48 Serenade in G major “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” K 525 Serenade für Streicher C-Dur Serenade G-Dur A 1. Pezzo in forma di Sonatina. 9:38 H 1. Allegro 8:08 Andante non troppo – Allegro moderato I 2. Romance. Andante 5:03 B 2. Valse. Moderato. Tempo di valse 4:02 J 3. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio 1:52 C 8:38 3. Élégie. Larghetto elegiaco K 4. Rondo. Allegro 5:28 D 4. Finale. Tema russo. Andante – Allegro con spirito 7:59 EDWARD ELGAR (1857–1934) Serenade for Strings in E minor op. 20 Serenade für Streicher e-Moll ZÜRCHER E 1. Allegro piacevole 3:32 KAMMERORCHESTER F 2. Larghetto 5:52 G 3. Allegretto 2:51 DANIEL HOPE Music Director 3 ISLANDS OF HAPPINESS By the mid-1950s the orchestra was It was here that Tchaikovsky wrote not already touring internationally. On 1 May only his “1812” Overture, which was com- FROM TCHAIKOVSKY, ELGAR 1954 the players visited Regensdorf near posed in response to a commission, but Zurich and erected a platform in the chapel also his Serenade, a work that reflects the AND MOZART of the local penitentiary. (The prison has spirit of the French and German music of since been replaced by another building – the period. Only in the final movement do the Pöschwies – that houses the largest we encounter peasant couples dancing to closed prison for men in Switzerland.) Giv- the Russian folksong “Under the Green ing concerts in unusual venues was consid- Apple Tree”. The opening movement finds ered pioneering at this time. Such appear- its composer exploring eighteenth-century serenade beneath a lover’s win- been forgotten. But even if the genre was ances were also a mark of respect for the sonatina form, an echo of his love of Mozart, dow, a birthday tribute or a way for regarded as superseded, there are still late men and women on the fringes of society. whose music he had studied in depth that Astudents to honour their teachers: nineteenth-century examples of such works Edmond de Stoutz conducted a short pro- year. The second movement is titled “Valse” the musical practice of the serenade that continue to be favourites with audi- gramme made up of memorably tuneful and spirits us away to a ballroom of the Belle stretches back to the Middle Ages. Not until ences and that are among the most widely works by Handel and Tchaikovsky: the first Époque, where the world’s earnestness and the eighteenth century did its function as an performed of all the pieces in the concert two movements of one of Handel’s con- melancholy are swept away, offering a tryst act of homage give way to other forms of repertory. certi grossi and the whole of Tchaikovsky’s for beautiful souls. It is no wonder that at its society-based entertainment. The Zurich Chamber Orchestra has cho- Serenade for Strings in C major op. 48. first public performance in St Petersburg in The term “serenade” derives from Italian sen three of these popular pieces to mark “I composed the Serenade […] from 1881 the audience insisted on an encore of sera (evening), sereno (serene) and al sere- the seventy-fifth anniversary of its formation inner conviction,” Tchaikovsky wrote to his this movement. no (out of doors). Its semantic field provides and hopes that this recording will afford as benefactress Nadezhda von Meck in the Edward Elgar’s Serenade in E minor a guideline for composers seeking to do much pleasure to its listeners as it does to autumn of 1880. “It is a heartfelt piece and op. 20 was likewise born under a lucky star. justice to their desire to entertain their audi- its players. These works are islands of hap- so, I dare to think, is not lacking in real Its predecessor is believed to have been the ences. Mozart, for example, grew up in the piness for the string players. Together with qualities.” The money that Nadezhda von three Sketches that Elgar wrote in the spring Salzburg serenade tradition. Many of these the world premieres and local premieres that Meck gave to the restless composer over of 1888, when he was still only thirty and not works, including the thirty or so serenades are the orchestra’s staple, they have played many years allowed him to seek refuge yet working as a full-time composer. They that were written by his father Leopold, were a vital role in helping it to define its ensemble regularly on the estates of his sister Alexan- were headed “Spring Song”, “Elegy” and intended for specific occasions and have playing since its foundation in 1945. dra at Kamenka in Ukraine. “Finale”. “I like ’em. (The first thing I ever did)”, 4 Elgar wrote to Charles William Buck follow- was written at more or less the same time ing their first performance at a Worcester- as the opera Don Giovanni. Originally in five shire Musical Union concert on 7 May 1888. movements, it is a classic example of galant The performance went down well and per- entertainment, while at the same time leav- suaded Elgar to revise the three movements ing far behind it all generic conventions. The for a further private performance, when he work’s simplicity and memorability create used the opportunity to strike out the illustra- the impression of being deliberate and are tive headings of the work’s initial version. the result of the most meticulous composi- One of London’s leading music publishers, tional calculation. The opening Allegro is an Novello, declined to publish the work, argu- example of foreshortened sonata form and ing that such trifles were “practically unsale- is launched with a triadic fanfare that func- able”. Conversely, the German publishing tions as a reveille. The Romance is cast in house of Breitkopf & Härtel revealed greater ternary Liedform while also incorporating appreciation, acquiring the publishing rights elements of a rondo. The clouded C minor in 1892 and in the process assuring them- harmonies of its middle section recall the selves of a bestseller years before the break- empfindsam style of the bygone Age of through of the “Enigma” Variations. Sensibility. The Menuetto and the Rondo– Perhaps the most famous piece of music Allegro that ends the work create an equal- in western culture is called Eine kleine ly stylized impression and serve to under- NachtMusick, at least according to the entry score the music’s memorably supra personal in Mozart’s autograph catalogue of his character. works. The holograph is untitled. Complet- Corinne Holtz ed on 10 August 1787, the work in G major Translation: texthouse Edmond de Stoutz conducting the Zurich Chamber Orchestra at the Tonhalle Zurich (c. 1955) 7 5 The Zurich Chamber Orchestra on tour at the foot of Mont-Saint-Michel (1958) 6 GLÜCKSMOMENTE VON geschlossene Justizvollzugsanstalt für Män- Satz erforscht Tschaikowsky die Sonatinen- ner in der Schweiz darstellt.) Konzerte an form des 18. Jahrhunderts, ein Echo seiner TSCHAIKOWSKY, ELGAR ungewöhnlichen Orten zu geben war damals Liebe zu Mozart, mit dessen Musik er sich im pionierhaft. Außerdem zeugte es von Res- selben Jahr beschäftigt. Der zweite Satz (Wal- UND MOZART pekt vor Menschen am Rand der Gesell- zer) entführt uns in einen Ballsaal der Belle schaft. Edmond de Stoutz dirigierte ein kur- Époque und fegt für ein Stelldichein schöner zes Programm mit eingängiger Musik von Menschen Ernst und Schwermut hinweg. Kein Händel und Tschaikowsky: Aus einem Con- Wunder, dass das Publikum der St. Peters- certo grosso Händels waren die ersten bei- burger Uraufführung bei diesem Satz eine in Ständchen unter dem Fenster der holt geltenden Gattung bis Ende des 19. Jahr- den Sätze zu hören, während Tschaikowskys Wiederholung forderte. Angebeteten, eine Huldigung zum hunderts Werke, die bis heute Publikumslieb- beliebte Streicherserenade C-Dur op. 48 in Auch Edward Elgars Serenade e-Moll E Geburtstag, eine Ehrung von Stu- linge sind und zu den meistgespielten Stücken voller Länge erklang. op. 20 entsteht unter einem guten Stern. denten für ihre Professoren: Die musikalische überhaupt zählen. »Ich schrieb die Serenade aus innerem Eben 30 Jahre alt und noch nicht Vollzeit- Praxis der Serenade reicht bis ins Mittelalter Das Zürcher Kammerorchester schenkt Antrieb. Das ist ein Stück von Herzen und lässt komponist, schreibt Elgar im Frühjahr 1888 zurück; erst im Laufe des 18. Jahrhunderts sich und seinem Publikum zum 75. Geburts- deshalb, wage ich zu sagen, künstlerischen drei Sätze für Streicher mit den Titeln »Früh- verliert sie ihre Huldigungsfunktion an ande- tag drei dieser Lieblingsstücke. Sie sind Wert nicht vermissen.« Diese Zeilen erreichen lingslied«, »Elegie« und »Finale«. »Ich mag re Formen gesellschaftsgebundener Unter- Inseln des Glücks für die Streicherinnen und im Herbst 1880 Tschaikowskys langjährige sie. Es sind die ersten Stücke, die ich über- haltungsmusik. Streicher und spielen neben den regelmäßi- Mäzenin Nadeschda von Meck. Sie sichert dem haupt mochte.« Eine Privataufführung in Das Bedeutungsfeld des Wortes »Serena- gen Ur- und Erstaufführungen eine tragende ruhelosen Komponisten über Jahre ein Aus- Worcester am 7. Mai 1888 kommt gut an de« aus sera (der Abend), sereno (heiter) und Rolle für das Selbstverständnis verfeinerten kommen, was es ihm ermöglicht, sich regelmä- und veranlasst den Komponisten, die Stücke al sereno (im Freien) ist Richtschnur für die Zusammenspiels – seit der Gründung des ßig auf das Landgut seiner Schwester Alexan- für eine weitere Darbietung im privaten Kreis Komponisten, dem Unterhaltungsanspruch Orchesters im Jahr 1945. dra im ukrainischen Kamenka zu flüchten. zu überarbeiten (und dabei die sprechenden gerecht zu werden.