The story of how Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 entered the world sounds a warning to all composers to disregard these fickle critics.
Eager to influence Nikolai Rubinstein to provide its premiere, Tchaikovsky performed the piece from begin to end within the firm of the eminent pianist. Rubinstein remained quiet all through – earlier than dismissing the work in no unsure phrases.
The snub stung Tchaikovsky, who conveyed the main points of this disastrous read-though in a letter he wrote some three years after the incident. In accordance with the composer, Rubinstein had expressed his opinion that ‘solely two or three pages had been price preserving; the remainder should be thrown away or fully rewritten’ as a result of the concerto was ‘badly written as to be past rescue’.
Tchaikovsky – at some emotional value – stood by his work, which was premiered not by Rubinstein, however by Hans von Bülow, who carried out it with a contract orchestra below Benjamin Johnson Lang in Boston on 25 October 1875. The Concerto, which was revised a number of instances by Tchaikovsky (the 1888 model is essentially the most generally performed), has gone on to change into one of the standard works within the piano repertoire and is a staple in competitors finals.
Just like the Mozart concertos, it may be each frothy and deeply complicated, main many pianists to revisit it at varied factors of their profession, exploring totally different elements alongside the way in which. Emil Gilels made a handful of recordings of the Concerto and Martha Argerich has up to now launched three. The piece has by no means been out of vogue, recorded by pianists throughout generations, from Claudio Arrau to Haochen Zhang.
As for Rubinstein, he made a U-turn on his denouncement, and – probably to indicate that there have been no exhausting emotions Tchaikovsky continued to dedicate compositions to the Russian virtuoso, together with his Second Piano Concerto.
A information to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
The punchy brass and placing chords that open the primary motion of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto present one of the memorable passages in classical music (because the RPO knew properly when selecting it to open its Hooked On Classics single in 1981). The fashion remembers the percussive starting to Grieg’s Piano Concerto (composed in 1868), which equally melts into vigorous dialog between soloist and ensemble.
However earlier than that integration, the declamatory piano half set over hovering strings within the grand introduction rouses even essentially the most fatigued listener. Not for nothing is the motion a well-liked fixture in ‘classical music to drive to’ playlists, and it was additionally just lately used as a shoo-in to interchange the Russian nationwide anthem on the 2020 Olympics, the place Russian athletes competed below the Russian Olympic Committee after the World Anti-Doping Company had banned the nation’s formal participation in any respect worldwide sporting occasions.
At first, the opening seems to be virtually a separate piece in itself – the large chordal melody doesn’t make an apparent return all through the motion. The beautiful, however meandering, growth might have been what Rubinstein objected to in that unsuccessful preview; the delicate evolution towards sudden modifications in texture was uncommon for the interval.
After one among a number of ‘false endings’, the piano takes on a galloping melody based mostly on a folksong Tchaikovsky had heard in Ukraine, sung by a blind beggar accompanying himself on the hurdy-gurdy. The creeping urgency is underlined by woodwind echoes and thrives. The playful Allegro con spirito theme seems once more in direction of the top of the part, shifting right into a growling, rumbling piano half that, after one other prolonged cadenza, reaches a virtuosic end. The ultimate ascending figures require each grit and glitter.
The second and third actions are considerably shorter than the primary. The center Andantino semplice begins with a captivating flute solo that introduces a lush piano melody. In contrast to the primary motion, the place the piano takes a combative function, right here the soloist settles into deeper alternate with the orchestra. There’s nice variation within the interpretation of ‘andantino’: Stephen Hough and the Minnesota Orchestra below Osmo Vänskä supply a sprightly 6:19 minutes of their 2010 recording, whereas Lang Lang, Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra squeeze out each phrase of their 8:05 minute model, recorded in 2003.
The theme within the third motion can be based mostly on a Ukrainian tune, this time derived from one of many tunes collected by Balakirev that Tchaikovsky had then organized for piano duet. A perky, angular dance turns into expansive and lyrical, with call-and-response between piano and orchestra. Scrambling scales start the prolonged build-up to the Concerto’s conclusion, aided by rumbling timpani and unison orchestral rhythms. Taking inspiration from Liszt, Tchaikovsky finishes with a quick chromatic ascent, cut up between alternate arms – a pianistic tour de drive that by no means fails to lift a smile.
The perfect recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Van Cliburn (piano)
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Kondrashin
RCA G010001770065I
With bravura fanfares and tender reflections – all requiring pristine method – it’s no surprise that Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto has lengthy been a contest favorite. Beatrice Rana’s flawless efficiency of the work on the Montreal Worldwide Music Competitors in 2011 gained her first prize; her follow-up efficiency in 2014 on the Van Cliburn Worldwide Piano Competitors led to a Warner Classics recording with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia that was a robust contender for this class.
Rana has adopted within the footsteps of Van Cliburn, the Texan pianist who gave his title to the quadrennial competitors, and who additionally gave a career-changing efficiency of the Tchaikovsky Concerto. In 1958, Van Cliburn arrived in Moscow to take part within the inaugural Worldwide Tchaikovsky Competitors. By the point he performed the Concerto within the closing (with the Moscow Radio Symphony below Kirill Kondrashin), he had change into recognized affectionately as ‘Vanyusha’ or ‘Vanyitschka’. Jurors had been nervous about giving an American first place – the competitors had been held partially to showcase Soviet cultural supremacy and mistrust between the US and USSR was ever growing. However in a present of inventive unity, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev is reported to have stated that one of the best pianist ought to win, it doesn’t matter what their nationality. Van Cliburn repeated his successful efficiency of the Tchaikovsky Concerto again within the US, having invited Kirill Kondrashin to hitch him on an impromptu tour. The concerto was carried out twice in Carnegie Corridor, the place this recording was made.
Van Cliburn takes the opening huge chords at a pleasing, stately tempo, imbuing the cascading melody with a restrained energy. The fragmented notes of the center part are fantastically clear, as is the rumbling lower-octave part (in some recordings the phrase appears to vanish off an edge). The piano does really feel just a little tinny in direction of the top of the motion, however not sufficient to distract from an in any other case triumphant account.
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The Andantino semplice is extra elongated than many fashionable readings – except Kissin (see above). But the sentimentality is leavened by an exciting finale full with a blistering keyboard ascent.
Martha Argerich (piano)
Deutsche Grammophon 449 8162
Martha’s Argerich’s third recording of the concerto, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Claudio Abbado in 1994, has the sting on her earlier model with Kirill Kondrashin. There’s no messing about with the large tunes, these early chords are completely positioned, the second motion is delicate and splendid, and the ultimate Allegro is spun like silk. With out imposing her character, Argerich manages to make it appear to be Tchaikovsky supposed this piece for her all alongside.
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Mariinsky MAR0530
Daniil Trifonov gained the Tchaikovsky Competitors in 2011 and the Concerto was recorded as a part of a compilation album shortly after. Joined for the event by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, Trifonov offers a chic efficiency that earns him a spot within the prime division. The second motion is fantastically paced, zipping in direction of a vibrant patchwork Allegro and a ravishing finale. The piano has a bright-but-rounded tone, notably noticeable within the build-up to the Allegro con spirito, which can not go well with all tastes.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)
Decca 483 2584
Recorded on the Walthamstow Meeting Corridor in 1963, this even-handed account has a classic fuzziness to the sound high quality that fits Ashkenazy’s pianism. Though the solo half itself isn’t in high-definition, the stability works properly, with lovely ensemble taking part in and curiously sharp brass from the London Symphony Orchestra. Ashkenazy takes a reserved method to the cadenza on the finish of the primary motion, unbuttoning considerably in a second motion that’s pure Romanticism, earlier than working wild in a free-flowing finale – conductor Lorin Maazel nearly manages to maintain these unison rhythms below management.
And one to keep away from…
The 1989 Deutsche Grammophon recording by the then wunderkind Yevgeny Kissin and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Herbert von Karajan is discombobulating. The sluggish speeds and ample rubato had been likely supposed to be significant introspection, however really feel mannered. The Andantino semplice specifically is much too drawn out – the flute and strings sound as if they’re about to go to sleep – and the outer actions lack the wit different pianists allow the piece.
