Tchaikovsky: Works for Violin and Orchestra
Moonkyung Lee
London Symphony Orchestra/Miran Vaupotic
Navona Records 6079
Total Time:  57:44
Recording:   (*)***/****
Performance: (*)***/****

One of the great warhorse concertos for violin is Tchaikovsky’s 1878 work.  Maligned from its premiere in Vienna by Adolph Brodsky, the work soon took its place in the repertoire for many of the reasons it caused such a stir at first, its brimming romanticism and seemingly insurmountable pyrotechnics.  It is coupled here with two other works for violin by the composer.

These studio recordings were made last August in London with members of the London Symphony Orchestra.  Soloist Moonkyung Lee enters a very crowded field with this release (there are over 180 recordings of the work currently in the catalogue—not counting the many others that are now OOP).  It then becomes necessary to see what she brings to what will probably be one of several traversals of the work over time.  At first glance, the timings of the three movements seem to align very well with standard practice (coming pretty close to Itzhak Perlman’s classic recording with Ormandy).  This is not the breezy rush that one gets in Heifetz-Reiner.  Fans of the latter approach will find the first movement feels a bit restrained and held back.  The energy seems to bubble more under the surface and the orchestra also just feels a bit small and constrained at times.  The view seems to be to let this serve its function as an opening movement not a finale with a couple of encores.  This does allow for a sense though of greater expressiveness and the sort of detail to intonation that often gets glossed over.  One might argue as well that it also makes these seasoned players think more about not just playing along in autopilot.  Lee is known for her warm playing and in the opening movement this becomes one of the striking aspects of her performance which carries over into the gorgeous central “Canzonetta”.  Once we head into the opening first theme though of the final movement we feel this sense of excitement just explode as we get a real “finale” that pushes forward well and creates a nice contrast to second lyrical idea.  The orchestra also seems to come alive.  But it is the way Lee shapes her own solo interjections and ideas that creates a sense of line even when the gestures are purely virtuosic.  Her interpretation reveals the sort of tension between the need to focus just on the virtuosic demands that too often call attention to themselves and take away from the inner beauty of the concerto (this is something like Ann-Sophie Mutter’s approach as well).  She is helped in this decision then by a measured accompaniment that allows for greater detail in the music.  One tends to want this big orchestral sound with the violin striving against it for supremacy, but here the orchestral string section feels a bit smaller, closer to a chamber orchestra which brings a better balance across the ensemble.  Again the intonation and general quality of Lee’s playing certainly make for stunning results.  In some of the slower moments of the work, the attention to detail pays off as the wind solos of the third movement feel more aligned with Lee’s own interpretive approach and not just little motifs tossed off in the background.  These sorts of details will be welcome to many listeners giving this a fresh approach perhaps.  What it does it give the concerto a more traditional sense of balance across the entire work.  My sense is that this will grow on listeners over time and I do wonder what extra edge might occur in a live performance.

There are two additional works on the album that allow for more of Lee’s gorgeous expressive playing.  The first is Glazunov’s arrangement of the Meditation in d from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un Lieu Cher, Op. 42.  One of the composer’s more gorgeous and heart-wrenching melodies, it comes from a three-movement work for violin and piano.  Originally intended as the central movement of the concerto, it finds a place here in a beautiful performance.  The album concludes with the earlier Serenade Melancolique, Op. 26.  Leopold Auer was the original dedicatee, but after his criticism of Tchaikovsky’s concerto, the composer wanted to remove the virtuoso’s name only to find it too late to change the published score.  The melodic content and style of the work is perfectly matched here to Lee’s sensibility and makes a fitting close to the disc.

The tentativeness at times makes this a hard call.  Lee’s expressive quality and interpretations certainly make a case for the sort of measured and careful approach taken here but somehow one wants just a bit more fire and energy.  A sense of carefulness seems to pervade the concerto especially in its opening movement and this is hard to overcome despite the truly engaging quality Lee brings to the more lyrical moments of the work and especially in the two shorter pieces on the album.  Would some of this been overcome with a live performance recording?  Hard to tell, but there are enough lovely moments here to warrant considering this recording which seems to open up more in the two fillers and the middle concerto movement the most.

Tower: Violin Concerto; Stroke; Chamber Dance
Cho-Liang Lin, violin. Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero
Naxos 8.559775
Total Time:  57:30
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Joan Tower’s music has always been among the more unique and fascinating examples of contemporary American art.  Her unique style comes from an innate sense of performing music and creating interesting work that engages both players and audiences.  It tends to fall outside the more popular stylistic art genres of the latter 21^st Century, but in truth can be considered a natural progression from the post-Romantic, or postmodern styles of other non-minimalist composers in this period.  She studied with Chou Wen-Chung, Jack Beeson, Wallingford Riegger, and Darius Milhaud—a rather eclectic compositional group in and of themselves!  The music tends to be rather striking in its use of color with an added emotional intensity that draws listeners in as well.

The present release sandwiches her Violin Concerto (1991)—which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; between two more contemporary pieces receiving their world premiere recordings here.  It was one of a couple larger-scale pieces (the other being the Concerto for Orchestra).  Originally composed for Elmar Oliviera, this single-movement work was created to help highlight his style and technique.  Though in a single movement, a common fast-slow-fast structure underlies the work which also features two cadenza sections.  The solo line captures the singing, lyrical quality of Oliveira’s playing (something that is equally shared by Lin here!) and also elaborates on a rhythmic motif that is part of the opening bars of the music.  The music moves between these interesting solo ideas and some larger scale harmonic structures with brass adding extra power.  The central section features an Impressionistic fluttering of winds as the soloist plays against these rather beautiful sounds with a warmer, reflective quality (not quite Dutilleux).  The music begins to whirl about for the final section where the colors reflect a bit of that post-minimalist flair that was appearing also in the work of John Adams.  It is still fairly unique the way Tower handles it here as it grows more organically out of those opening rhythmic ideas at the beginning of the concerto, in a way bringing us full circle musically to tie things up quite well.

The first work on the CD is also the most recent.  Stroke (2010), commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and premiered by them in 2011, is a deeply personal work for Tower.  The piece was begun shortly after her brother had a stroke leaving him partially paralyzed.  The beating, and somewhat intensely struggling, of a heart is certainly part of the opening bars of the work with a pounding rhythmic unison.  It will recur interspersed with moments of calm highlighting different soloists.  Sometimes the rhythmic ideas have a more jazz-like quality to them while the music itself feels like it could follow an action sequence with tropes and sounds from the cinema.  The piece is quite dramatic, almost balletic, in its quality as a somewhat inner turmoil plays out over the course of the piece which ends with a bit of tranquility and hope in an E-major resolution arrived at by a sliding string glissando as the heart beats on.  What is also most striking about the piece is the way these ideas are clearly communicated and help provide a more formal overlay for listeners to connect to even upon their first experience of the work.

The final piece is Chamber Dance from 2006.  Commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the piece is somewhat like a concerto grosso in its use of blocks of sound interspersed with solos and duets to help show off that orchestra’s players and musical philosophy.  The “dance” is achieved through the way these different combinations must play off one another.  The music’s soundworld has a lot of similarities with the concerto that shares this program.  The highlight is really in the way the solo ideas come and go in the texture and would be visually interesting to connect as much as it is to hear.  However, it feels like the least interesting work of the three—which perhaps only highlights the intensity of those earlier pieces.  On its own it is a well-crafted piece and quite engaging otherwise.

A previous release of Tower’s music, Made in America, featured Leonard Slatkin with these players and would go on to win three Grammy awards.  The conductor has had a longer relationship with Tower’s music going back to some of the first orchestral recordings made in St. Louis earlier in her career.  Giancarlo Guerrero steps to the podium here after many fine releases of contemporary American music.  As one would expect, the orchestra responds well to his direction.  The Nashville Symphony is, at least on recordings, continuously demonstrating some great musicianship and an affinity for contemporary music reminiscent of what used to happen in Louisville several decades ago.  The sound here is equally marvelous allowing for crisp detail (also due in part to the acoustics of Schermerhorn Symphony Center) and well-captured orchestral balance.  There may be more Grammy’s in the orchestra’s future!