St Petersburg, Concert Hall

Janine Jansen (violin) and Itamar Golan (piano)


PERFORMERS:
Janine Jansen (violin)
Piano: Itamar Golan


PROGRAMME:
Leoš Janáček
Sonata for violin and piano, JW 7/7

Franz Schubert
Fantasie for violin and piano in C Major, D 934

Ernest Chausson
Poème for violin and piano, Op. 25

Maurice Ravel
Sonata for violin and piano No. 2 in G Major


The Sonata for Violin and Piano is one of few works by Leoš Janáček that managed to survive despite the composer’s unparalleled severity to himself. As far back as 1880 Janáček wrote two violin sonatas, neither of which survive today. Janáček began working on the sonata in question in 1914, though it was a long time – in 1922 – before he allowed it out of his hands as he was continuously making amendments. This should come as no surprise as it is one of the Czech genius’ most original, capricious and highly lyrical works, at times speaking in an almost avant-garde language.
The most traditional section of the sonata is the second, a tranquil and lyrical Ballade that unexpectedly soars towards the ecstatic culmination. In the brilliant rhapsody of the first section (Con moto), the scherzo (Allegretto) and the slow finale (Adagio) there is a miraculous combination of colour worthy of the Impressionists, romantic passion and folkloric motifs (Janáček was a folklorist “in the field” who collected thousands of folk melodies). The music of these sections is imbued with anxious and nervous motifs, now coming from the violin, now from the piano – the idea for the sonata emerged at the very outbreak of World War I.
Anna Bulycheva

Franz Schubert’s Fantasia in C Major for Violin and Piano was written for the young virtuoso violinist Joseph Slavik, whom contemporaries referred to as “Bohemia’s Paganini”. Despite the vivid nature of the music, the premiere of the work, which took place in early 1828, was no great success with either the public or the critics. In reality, the free structure of the composition, each section flowing continuously from the last without interruption, heralded Liszt’s poem form and was unusual and complex to the larger part of audiences. In time, however, the work came to be seen in a just light, and now we can only wonder that it was once perceived as an incomprehensible jumble of sounds.
The first part of the Fantasia consists of two sections: slow (performing the function of an introduction), and fast dance, in the Hungarian fashion, which once again brings Liszt to mind, albeit with regard to his rhapsodies. However, the introductory section is typically “Schubertian”, based on the long drawn-out melody of a song. For the second movement, written in the form of variations, the composer used the theme of his song Sei mir gegrüßt!  (to words by Rückert), exposing a great similarity to the “Turkish rondo” of the first movement of Mozart’s famous Sonata in A Major. Then the first movement is repeated in an altered style, and fleetingly – like a reflection – there comes the theme of the second movement, and the festive culmination of the Fantasia reaches truly symphonic levels.

Amédée Ernest Chausson wrote his Poem for Violin and Orchestra (1896) for his friend Eugène Ysaÿe who was dreaming about a violin concerto. Chausson had already composed a concerto for violin, piano and string quartet, but he refused to write an orchestra concert. Instead, he wrote for Ysaÿe something unprecedented, an untitled poem. Romantic composers always gave names to their works with poetic program, and Chausson himself had also created symphonic poems Viviane and Poem of Love and the Sea for voice and orchestra, but this time he did it the other way.
By the time he began to work at the new piece, Chausson had discovered Russian literature. His attention was caught by the magic Indian violin of the mysterious Muzio, character of Turgenev’s short story, so originally he called his work The Song of Triumphant Love: Symphonic Poem for Violin and Orchestra, in Turgenev style, but then he decided to remove the program description altogether.
Music of the poem is usually seen as full of Chausson inherent melancholy, although it is much more longing, and it is no coincidence that echoes of Wagner’s Tristan can be heard in the opening bars. The poem’s colorful harmony and gorgeous orchestration remind us of the composer’s great teachers, César Franck and Jules Massenet, while its free form apparently follows the twists and turns of Turgenev's story.
Anna Bulycheva

Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major No. 2 is founded on the tradition of the three-part 18th century sonata, where the outer, animated sections (the latter being faster) frame an instrumental aria, but at the same time tear down these traditions in accordance with the composer’s well thought-out plan. The underscored independence of the violin and piano parts (including their being written down in various tonalities) transforms the ensemble partners into competing rivals.
The lyricism of the first section is an example of Ravel’s refinement and delicate composition. This is music of “new simplicity” where there is nothing superfluous. In the movement of pure and clear melodic lines, only occasionally are there grotesque piano retorts that for a moment dispel the severity of the atmosphere. The second section is blues, used for the first time here in chamber music. Ravel never missed a chance to listen to good jazz, and he made a brilliant study of the specific nature of the genre. The influence of the jazz improvisation style also appears in the numerous characteristic “orchestral” effects of blues – glides in intonation typical of Negro violinists in manner, the imitation of specific techniques in trumpet, saxophone and trombone playing. The closing section of the Sonata – Perpetuum mobile – comes with the composer’s instructions to play “as quickly as possible”. The supremacy of the virtuoso violin part draws it close to the concerto-like finale and once again confirms that with Ravel the classical system is filled with unexpectedness.
Nadezhda Koulygina

Age category 6+

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