Meeting in Music: BEETHOVEN's VIOLIN CONCERTO: IN ORIGINAL VERSION AND TWO TRANSCRIPTIONS

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THE MEDIEVAL ERA (600 - 1450)

At around 500 AD, western civilization began to emerge from the period known as “The Dark Ages”, the time when invading hordes of Vandals, Huns and Visigoths overran Europe and brought an end to the Roman Empire. For the next ten centuries, the newly emerging Christian Church would dominate Europe, administering justice, instigating “Holy” Crusades against the East, establishing universities, and generally dictating the destiny of music, art and literature

During this time, Pope Gregory I is generally believed to have collected and codified the music known as Gregorian Chant, which was the approved music of the Church. Much later, the University at Notre Dame in Paris saw the creation of a new kind of music called organum.

Secular music was sung all over Europe by the troubadours and trouvères of France, and it was during the Middle Ages that western culture saw the arrival of the first great name in music, Guilliame de Machaut.

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With the rise of humanism, sacred music began for the first time to break free of the confines of the Church, and a school of composers trained in the Netherlands mastered the art of polyphony in their settings of sacred music. One of the early masters of the Flemish style was Josquin des Prez. These polyphonic traditions reached their culmination in the unsurpassed works of Giovanni da Palestrina.

The late Renaissance also saw in England the flourishing of the English madrigal, the best known of which were composed by such masters as John Dowland, William Byrd, Thomas Morley and others.

THE BAROQUE ERA (1600 - 1750)

Named after the popular ornate architectural style of the time, the Baroque period (c.1600 to 1750) saw composers beginning to rebel against the styles that were prevalent during the High Renaissance. Many monarchs employed composers at their courts, where they were little more than servants expected to churn out music for any desired occasions. The greatest composer of the period, Johann Sebastian Bach, was such a servant. Yet the best composers of the time were able to break new musical ground, and in so doing succeeded in creating an entirely new style of music.

The instrumental concerto became a staple of the Baroque era, and found its strongest exponent in the works of the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Harpsichord music achieved new heights, due to the works of such masters as Domenico Scarlatti and others. But vocal and choral music still reigned supreme during this age, and culminated in the operas and oratorios of German-born composer George Frideric Handel.

THE CLASSICAL ERA (1750 - 1820)

From roughly 1750 to 1820, artists, architects, and musicians moved away from the heavily ornamented styles of the Baroque and the Rococo, and instead embraced a clean, uncluttered style they thought reminiscent of Classical Greece.

At this time the Austrian capital of Vienna became the musical centre of Europe, and works of the period are often referred to as being in the Viennese style. Composers came from all over Europe to train in and around Vienna, and gradually they developed and formalized the standard musical forms that were to dominate European musical culture for the next several decades. The Classical period reached its majestic culmination with the masterful symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets by the three great composers of the Viennese school: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

During the same period, the first voice of the burgeoning Romantic musical ethic can be found in the music of Viennese composer Franz Schubert.

THE ROMANTIC ERA (1820 - 1910)

The earliest Romantic composers were all born within a few years of each other in the early years of the nineteenth century. These include the great German masters Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann; the Polish poet of the piano Frédéric Chopin; the French genius Hector Berlioz; and the greatest pianistic showman in history, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. The field of Italian opera was dominated by Giuseppe Verdi, while German opera was virtually monopolized by Richard Wagner.

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THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY ERA (1910 - 1960)

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Many of the greatest and best-known composers of the century, including Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich along with British composers William Walton and Benjamin Britten were those who wrote music directly descended from the approved models of the past, while investing these forms with a style and modernistic tone of their own.

THE LATE 20TH CENTURY ERA (1940 - 2000)

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As more electronic technology matured, so did the music. In the 1950s aleatoric music was first championed by American composer John Cage. Early minimalist compositions of the 1960s such as those by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass stemmed from aleatoric and electronic music.

THE CONTEMPORARY ERA (from 1975)

In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. In the context of classical music the term has been applied to music written in the last quarter century or so, particularly works post-1975. Minimalism was practiced heavily throughout the latter half of the century and has carried over into the 21st century, with composers like Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and John Tavener working in the more popular “mystic minimalism” variant.

Recently there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools of composition to name or label. However, in general, there are three broad trends. The first is the continuation of modern avant-garde traditions, including musical experimentalism. The second are schools which sought to revitalize a tonal style based on previous common practice. The third focuses on non-functional triadic harmony, exemplified by composers working in the minimalist and related traditions.

7/23/2025

BEETHOVEN's VIOLIN CONCERTO: IN ORIGINAL VERSION AND TWO TRANSCRIPTIONS

Disc 1
01 - 03 L.van Beethoven: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, op. 61

Disc 2
01 - 03 L.van Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 9 in A major, op. 47 "Kreutzer"

Vadim Repin (violin), Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti (CD 1)
Martha Argerich (piano), Vadim Repin (violin) (CD 2)
[individual flac files, scans]

[Recorded in Musikverein, Vienna, 2/2007 (concerto) and Lugano, 6/2007 (sonata)]
[Deutsche Grammophon B0009663-02]

01 - 03 W.A.Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A major, K. 622
04 - 06 L.van Beethoven (arr. M. Pletnev): Concerto for Clarinet (Violin) and Orchestra in D major, op. 61

Michael Collins (clarinet); Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev
[individual flac files, scans]
[Recorded in State Conservatory, Moscow, 7/1997]
[Deutsche Grammophon 457 652-2]

01 - 03   L.van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in                    D major (arranged by composer from Violin Concerto                    op. 61)
04    Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in F, op. 40
05    Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in F op. 50

Daniel Barenboim (piano and conductor), English Chamber Orechestra (1-3)
Pinchas Zukerman (violin), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (4-5)

[individual flac files, scans]
[Recorded in Brent Town Hall, London, 7/1973 & 12/1974 (Romances)]
[Deutsche Grammophon 429 179-2]

A unique coupling linking an outstanding reading of the Mozart concerto with a fresh approach to the Beethoven Violin Concerto in a very different guise

When Michael Collins has given so many inspired performances in concert of Mozart's supreme masterpiece, it is surprising that we have had to wait so long for a recording from him. Yet what a bonus this new issue now brings, a daring transcription for the clarinet by Pletnev of the Beethoven Violin Concerto. The conductor is quoted as saying that 'the clarinet needs more big works, and the Beethoven would certainly fill a gap.' After all, Beethoven himself made a piano transcription, and in many ways the clarinet fits the music more comfortably.
Collins in his notes outlines the differences that the transcription has entailed, as for example over violin double-stopping, but tends to underplay the degree to which transpositions down an octave have been required in all three movements. The marvel is that Pletnev has managed the shifting up and down so deftly. What matters is that passagework has regularly been shifted to the register which most suits the clarinet, making passagework sound natural, whereas keeping the clarinet, like the violin, high up above the stave would have resulted in uncomfortable shrieking.
Collins makes no bones in his note about the problem of performing such a piece, not just interpretatively but technically, too. As he says, 'there are places, in the first movement in particular, when the solo line just doesn't stop, turning such mundane things as taking a breath into a major concern.' The wonder is that he makes light of all problems, so that one can readily enjoy the music in a new way, with the warmth of Beethoven's lyricism the more richly brought out in clarinet tone, not just in the slow movement – where Collins feels the advantages are greatest – but in the long first movement, too. Sensibly, the cadenza (by Pletnev) is kept to a modest length – barely two minutes – is predominantly lyrical, and produces fireworks only in the middle.
What is clear is that, whatever reservations there may be about the transcription, here is music which provides a most satisfying coupling for the Mozart.
Like his teacher, Thea King, Collins uses a basset clarinet in Mozart's great work, relishing the extra downward range and richness of timbre. This is as masterful a reading as there is in the catalogue, providing a fascinating contrast to King's on Hyperion, long my favourite. Collins's speeds in the outer movements are markedly faster than King's, wonderfully agile with the cleanest articulation and crisp rhythmic pointing as well as fine detail. It is a reading not just elegant but powerful, too, as well as deeply poetic in the slow movement. There Collins comes closest to King, fining down his tone to the gentlest pianissimo on the reprise of the main theme (track 2, 4'36"").
The playing of the Russian National Orchestra under Pletnev is refined and elegant to match. This is a unique and generous coupling which brings out the mastery of this brilliant artist more compellingly than ever."
Edward Greenfield, Gramophone (7/2000)

7 comments:

Appassionato said...: Violin Concerto, Kreutzer Sonata:
https://mega.nz/file/nJsTBZgI#xQOFkrYwXABT-40zMwD-63I2XjHtg_r9-SlnHpbebnA

Beethoven · Mozart · Clarinet Concertos:
https://mega.nz/file/vNcz0YrZ#tydYGYxtnS_1Kn-AKdBi0POYqzEJ6uwV8GhNr4ku7a8

Piano Concerto in D, Violin Romances:
https://mega.nz/file/LVNl0L4B#r7lrSvnz7CNWt0hURKdaRf4oZ_tMbQ2lqxoMSG78na0; 23 July 2025 at 09:48
zarg05 said...: Many thanks; 23 July 2025 at 10:19
classic said...: Thank you very much :); 23 July 2025 at 16:13
anchusa said...: Thanks very much! The version for clarinet was totally new to me.; 24 July 2025 at 00:20
anchusa said...: PS. In case somebody else finds the cue sheet unplayable: it worked (in foobar2000) after I deleted all lines starting with COMPOSER.; 24 July 2025 at 00:57
Appassionato said...: Well, I use XRecode 3 and have no problems.; 24 July 2025 at 05:39
AlanE49 said...: Thank you!; 24 July 2025 at 15:04