Longing for white purity

by Petar PLAMENOV


12 January (Thursday), 2012
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Bulgaria Hall, 19:00

Address:
Sofia, 1 Aksakov Str.
Working time: mon-sun 09:00–18:30
Phone: 02 987 76 56  


Cycle Winter Evenings
Conductor: Martin Panteleev
Soloists: Albena Danailova [violin], Alexander Hyulshof, Germany [cello]
Program:
George Arnaudov - Vlaherna (world premiere)
Johannes Brahms - Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, A minor, op.102,
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 1 Winter Dreams, G minor, op.13

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 is universally regarded of old conservative music critic as the weakest (structurally speaking) of his symphonies, but this is no all truth. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840, and wrote his first symphony at the youth age of 26. This symphony to day is considered by the music historians like Tchaikovsky`s first notable work, written at the same time that he had accepted a professorial post at the Moscow conservatory. A typical Moscow winter is 3 to 5 months of snow and continuous sub-zero temperatures, often around minus 10 degrees celsius, with a record minus 42 recorded in 1940.It is doubtful that any other of his works caused Tchaikovsky as much anguish, suffering, and exasperation that his First Symphony did.

Tchaikovsky started writing this symphony in March 1866. Work proved sluggish. A scathing review by César Cui of the cantata he had written as a graduation piece from the St. Petersburg Conservatory shattered his morale. He also composed day and night. All these factors strained Tchaikovsky's mental and physical health tremendously. He started suffering from insomnia, from pains in his head which he thought to be strokes, and became convinced he would not live to finish the symphony. A successful performance of his revised Overture in F in St. Petersburg lifted his spirits. So did a change of scene for the summer with his family. Nevertheless, he soon worked himself again into nervous and physical exhaustion by continuing to compose day and night. A doctor declared him "one step away from insanity", ordering complete rest. Tchaikovsky complied. The first full performance took place in Moscow on February 1868.



Although it is an early work, Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony is a thoroughly engaging score, complete with all the distinguishing mannerisms—either in rudimentary or full-blown form—of the mature composer. Already present are the charming melodies, colorful orchestration, dynamic contrasts, and exciting climaxes that are hallmarks of his music. Also present is a dependency upon some sort of programmatic or quasi-programmatic idea. From its very inception, the symphony bore the title “Zimniye Gryozi” (Winter Dreams), clearly an indication that Tchaikovsky had something in mind beyond merely “absolute” music.

It starts with a warm, luminous note as if a star sustained in a black winter sky, then wheels larklike into a lilting melody. Entitled “Winter Reveries,” the first movement is light at first, then grows increasingly dark as Tchaikovsky seeks to encompass the whole spectrum of light and dark in a dramatic opening movement. The opening movement, Allegro tranquillo, represents, according to John Warrack, another of the composer’s biographers, “an imaginative distillation of the Russian landscape of Tchaikovsky’s heart.” Throughout, the emotional content is somewhat generalized, so as to accommodate the structures of sonata form. The thematic materials, though folk-like in appearance, are entirely original. The first theme is introduced by the flutes and bassoons in octaves; the second, by the clarinets.

The second movement, Adagio cantabile ma non tanto, suggests the image of a bleak, desolate winter landscape. The Adagio, entitled “Desolate Country, Country of Mists,” opens with a Russian folk melody and has the happy cadence of a dance before yielding to sadness. As in the first movement, the themes, though resembling Russian folksongs in their melodic contours, are of Tchaikovsky’s own creations. Rather than attempting to develop these materials, he simply repeats them, adding ornamental counterpoint and varying the orchestral colors each time.

For the third movement, a scherzo marked Allegro scherzando giocoso, Tchaikovsky transposed, expanded, and orchestrated the scherzo from his posthumously published Piano Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 80, which he had written in 1865. It is almost Mendelssohnian in its lightness and elegance. The waltz-like trio, which was newly composed, offers a foretaste of Tchaikovsky’s distinctive pieces in that dance form yet to come.

The Scherzo features the fantastical haunts that would reappear in later works like The Nutcracker Suite but lacks inspiration in the arrangement, the Finale wraps it all up with a predictably bombastic bow. Prefaced by a lengthy introduction marked Andante lugubre, the final movement, Allegro moderato, is again a sonata form structure. Its thematic materials are derived from an actual Russian folksong, “Raspashu li ya mlada, mladeshenka” (I’m sowing some flowers, my little one). In the development, Tchaikovsky demonstrates his contrapuntal skills by including a fugato episode. In the slow transition passage that leads to the recapitulation, the out-of-step descending scales that move in contrary motion against sustained horn calls provide a novel and, at times, startlingly dissonant effect. A lengthy coda marked Allegro vivo brings the symphony to a rousing and typically Tchaikovskian conclusion. The Symphony No. 1 does introduce Tchaikovsky’s unique facility for melody and the opening minutes are ingenious.

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