November 16, 2015

  • "Transitional" French Violin Concerti

     

    Rode: Violin Concertos, volume 4
    Friedemann Eichhorn, violin.  Jena Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicole Pasquet
    Naxos 8.573054
    Total Time: 73:08
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    The early days of the 19th Century was really the beginning of a host of virtuosi performers moving throughout Europe and, eventually, the New World.  Those who were masters of the piano and violin tend to be the most generally remembered today.  All of these virtuosi wrote pieces that would demonstrate their capabilities, many of them are rarely heard.  One such performer/composer was the great violinist Pierre Rode (1774-1830).  Rode was a student of the Italian master, and founder of the French violin school, Giovanni Battista Viotti.  It was Rode who would premiere Beethoven’s last sonata and he, along with others in this period, had an important impact on technique and music that was to flourish as the century continued.

    As one would expect, Rode composed almost exclusively for violin.  There are sonatas, string quartets, a host of variations on popular themes and thirteen violin concerti.  Naxos is coming to the end of their survey of these works of which this is the fourth volume.  Soloist Friedemann Eichhorn has made a number of recordings of rare, and forgotten, works for the violin from this period and the earlier recordings have met with great acclaim.  He has created the cadenzas used here.

    The present release features premiere recordings of the second and eighth violin concertos that are bookended by two sets of variations.  Popular opera arias and folk music were often mined by virtuosi for their concert programs and sometimes were more memorable than their source material.  The opening one here is the Variations on ‘Nel cor piu mon mi sento’ a cavatina taken from the popular 1788 opera La molinara by Giovanni Paisello (known for similar treatments by Beethoven and Paganini).  Rode’s version features seven variations.  There is some nice work that also displays the wind section of the orchestra to help add extra punch in cadences as well as lyrical phrases, especially for flute and oboe.  There are also good shifts between lyrical and technical variations but little harmonic exploration.  It makes for a nice little “encore”-like number.

    The Introduction and Variations on a Tyrolean Air features a dotted rhythm and triplets that can be exploited in the music that follows.  Rode explores this idea through ten variations.

    One aspect of Rode’s music is his preference for writing lyric and beautiful melodic ideas exploring the expressive capabilities over pyrotechnics.  The Violin Concerto No. 8 in e, Op. 13 is presented first.  It is cast in three movements with the last two balancing the opening movement.  The beautiful, and somewhat melancholy idea that opens the first movement sets up the general character.  The style is closer to a late 18th-century work with the use of sequences to move through harmonic areas and structural gestures that provide clear set ups for the soloist to enter.  The string writing sometimes has an almost Baroque urgency.

    The Violin Concerto No. 2 in E, Op. 4 dates from the 1790s.  It is a more substantial work, dedicated to Kreutzer.  Perhaps the middle “Siciliano” belies a somewhat Italianate style, the lyricism of the concerto is one of its most engaging components.  A great little cadenza also helps move us into a final “Rondo” displaying the tasteful wit for which Rode was known.

    The bottom line is that if you are a fan of music from this period, there is a great deal to recommend this disc, and the series to you.  The pieces are perfectly fine representations with interesting melodic content and in fine performances.  The lyrical writing is perhaps the most wonderful discovery here as Rode’s music explores a warm and, dare one say, romantic expressive quality of the instrument while also creating just enough “fancy” articulation and passage work to add to the excitement.  Orchestral writing is equally assured.