April 6, 2015

  • Castelnuovo-Tedesco Violin Concertos

     

    Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Violin Concertos
    Tianwa Yang, violin.  Baden Baden and Freiburg SWR Symphony Orchestra/Pieter-Jelle de Boer
    Naxos 8.573135
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) is perhaps best known for his beautiful guitar concerto.  He would write a great deal of music over the course of a long, distinguished career, and as noted on this blog before, he would go on to teach composition to a number of composers who would go on to great careers in film music (Mancini, Williams).  He would write two violin concerti  early in his career, the first the composer considered his first real symphonic exploration.  It received the attention of the great Jascha Heifetz which caused the second concerto to soon follow.

    The Concerto Italiano, Op. 31 (1924) was written for the Italian violinist Mario Corti.  Though encouraged to explore a modernist approach akin to the music of Szymanowski that Corti gave to Castelnuovo-Tedesco, the work instead took a turn towards the Neo-Classical and Baroque aesthetic trends of the period.  This style strikes the listener from the opening bars of the first movement with its Vivaldi-like flourishes before the soloist enters to take it up before embarking on a lyrical second theme.  The orchestral writing is simply gorgeous with beautiful harmonic writing that slides about just a bit adding some color with different solo ideas along the way.  There is also an exhilarating cadenza to wrap up the movement, though it does feel overall a tad too long.  The center of the movement is a rhapsodic “Arioso” based on a lovely theme and a five-note motif that insistently recurs.  The final movement has a rondo-like quality that alternates dance-like faster sections with more lyrical episodes.  This world premiere recording is certainly a welcome addition to the composer’s catalogue worth exploring for those who love his music.  It is somewhat interesting to hear the work somewhat abandon the 17th and 18th Century in favor of a slightly more romantic tone as it moves into its final movements.

    Jascha Heifetz met up with the composer in Florence soon after and would perform the concerto in Paris.  It was this performance that inspired Castelnuovo-Tedesco to compose The Lark.  Heifetz would go on to perform the Concerto Italiano in New York in 1931 and subsequently requested a concerto be written specifically for him.  The result was the second concerto, subtitled I Profeti, Op. 66 which Heifetz premiered with Toscanini conducting in 1933 at Carnegie Hall.  The piece has a tendency to fall into that period of Jewish and religious sentiment, more familiar perhaps from the works of Bloch.  The piece’s inspiration comes from the prophetic writings of the Old Testament, namely those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Elijah.  But it also bears an interest in the early 20th century fascinating with “authentic” folk melodies.  Castelnuovo-Tedesco uses 5 of these traditional Jewish melodies that he discovered in a collection by Federico Consolo while perusing his grandfather’s bookshelf.  The piece thus has perhaps a bit more seriousness implied at the outset.

    While the first concerto focused mostly on strings with some brass being more “exposed”, wind writing in this work has moved along with a more assured hand and even becomes one of the highlights of the opening movement.  The music certainly sounds as if it has a foot rooted in Middle Eastern inflections and today may come across as somewhat filmic in style.  The latter was certainly something the curmudgeonly Olin Downes of the New York Times commented upon—it is worth noting he was no fan of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music all the same.  Heifetz did make a case for this work even managing to record it where it has reappeared over the decades.  The more passionate second section of the first movement certainly feels a bit like a travelogue at times.  Again, the first movement sort of outweighs the others being just a little long at 13 minutes.  The second is an opportunity for more expressive writing.  It is a bit more opportunity for expressive writing and it is interesting to hear how the unusual melodic contour lends the music a somewhat modern feel at times.  Some of the skipping feel of the first informs the finale as it launches into a more rhythmically-focused movement with plenty of pyrotechnics to show off the soloist.  Yang polishes these off quite well and there is great energy in her performance, though the orchestra could use just a bit more push sometimes.

    Tianwa Yang’s performance captures the lyrical qualities of this music quite well with all the little ornamental touches adding to the gorgeous quality of the music.  Her technique in the faster sections is remarkable, and the high-end intonation is captivating.  She certainly makes a convincing case for both works and her performance of the second concerto is rather marvelous and worthy of high praise!  This is an excellent way to hear two wonderful works by one of the lesser-appreciated 20th-Century masters.