Maxim Vengerov | 5 Best Violin Pieces | Classic FM

people very often ask me what are the five favorite pieces that i would take with me on the island it is very difficult to answer these questions but nevertheless i'd like to highlight for you the five that are very close to my heart 1720 this final movement of the d minor partita can only be described as a monument this consecration of emotion through counterpoint and variations using all technical resources of the violin known at the time is longer than all the other movements combined and yet almost doesn't seem to belong to the rest why is this reports from the period imply that it was composed upon bach's return home from dresden when he discovers that his first wife and mother of seven children maria barbara has died in his absence and already been buried bach is devastated after four dance movements which could represent daily joys and reflections he presents us with a charcoal theme which unlike other known themes of these genres like la folia depicts a type of substitute funeral procession in which he almost asks god in his despair why did this happen his remorse tenderness and anguish can only be expressed through the variations yet slowly these transcends into description the long voyage of maria barbara's soul and the hope in major that perhaps one day they may be reunited now however she must wait for him in this mysterious place brahms wrote of this piece to clara schumann if i could only imagine myself capable of conceiving such work i'm quite certain that my sudden state of excitation would drive me mad [Music] um [Music] so [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] mmm foreign [Music] um [Music] the third sonata called balad because unlike the others it's in one movement was dedicated to the great romanian violinist composer pianist and conductor georges enesco when isaiah heard sigeti playing the bach g minor sonata he was inspired to create a contemporary series of works for sola violin exploiting the technical evolution of the instrument and modern expression written in 1923 each of the sonatas are dedicated to a different violinist using elements he probably felt corresponded to their personality in unesco's case issai gives us a stylized personal vision of the romanian folk music so close to unesco's heart and compositions turbulent ascending chromatics and jacked syncopations serving as introduction and theme followed by almost improvised melismas wandering through random harmonies and a wild and almost demented coda completes this homage to probably the most phenomenal musician to come from romania and beloved professor of yogi menuhin [Music] um [Music] bye [Music] [Music] meditation from massnay's operation is a key magical moment in the work when the heroine sees a christian martyr in the night who resurrected her and was tortured to death in front of her eyes he encourages her to leave the courtyard of alexandria with the priest athanael and go to the desert to save her soul this work represents the essence of the orientalism of the bellipoc period and premiered in 1894 when paris was considered the cultural capital of the world [Music] me [Music] do [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] me [Music] you [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] the symphonia concertante for violin and viola is one of mozart's first incontestable masterpieces written following his return home from paris in 1779 it was probably influenced by meetings with his mannheim friends in the french capital for it was in manheim that the form developed its genius however can really only be attributed to the intimate expression of its dialogues the declarations of tenderness and unity of the first movement are followed by one of mozart's most grieving and profound second movements whereas the finale is playful and reconciliatory so why is the second movement so particular perhaps because during his paris stay not only did his hope for triumph not take place but his mother anna maria who had not intended to come but did so for her son died a sudden death mozart's sense of guilt was overwhelming and the prospect of returning to his father's reproaches permitted no opportunity to come to grips with his loss while in paris however his reaction was without emotion paris with its frivolous indifference to anything that wasn't the battle between supporters of glucan puccini remained a horrible souvenir for mozart it was a far cry from his highly successful trip as an eight-year-old wunderkind once back in salzburg he needed to went his suffering and one can only imagine him telling his mother in this deeply felt movement how much she meant to him and how much he would miss her what might be her answer [Music] ah [Music] shostakovich's first violin concerto was written at the time of the infamous dawn of decree in soviet russia formalism in music most of the composers were accused of such crimes as a result of the composer's denunciation the work had to wait seven years before it could be premiered in 1955 with david oystrak and evgeny bravinsky conducting here shostakovich introduces for the first time his identifying motive dsch using german note names [Music] he would continue to use this regularly in meaningful compositions such as eighth quartet which he said he wrote for his memory for himself and in the 10th symphony oyster who revised the concerto with shostakovich described the first movement nocturne as suppressed feelings the skeletal second movement was considered as demonic the following pascalia a true masterpiece utilizes beethoven's fate motive and the famous dsch motif reappears in the grand cadenza which launches impetuously into the final burlesque this last thing is a hidden homage to stravinsky petrushka but let's listen for a moment to how we get there through shostakovich's wild cadenza [Music] do [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] blue [Music] so [Music] this [Music] hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

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Id: NWPQBWGnsHs

Length: 20min 3sec (1203 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 07 2021