TCHAIKOVSKY/STOKOWSKI: ANDANTE CANTABILE

Andante Cantabile from the String Quartet No. 1 in  D major, Op. 11 (1871)
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
ARRANGED BY LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI (1882-1977) 

New Year 1871 found Tchaikovsky, a member of the Moscow Conservatory faculty for five years and a composer of budding genius, nearly broke. His salary at the school was hardly more than meager and his only large compositions to that time—Romeo and Juliet and the First Symphony—had met with only tiny success, providing little promise of future royalties. His superior at the Conservatory, Nikolai Rubinstein, suggested that his young colleague stage a concert entirely of his own compositions both to raise some funds and to bring his music before the public. Tchaikovsky dreamed of presenting an orchestral performance, but he had neither the repertory nor the finances to support such a venture, so he settled on a chamber concert for which he would compose a new string quartet. The D major Quartet, the first chamber work of his maturity, was written quickly and premiered at his concert in Moscow on March 28, 1871. Though the hall was not full, the income was sufficient to relieve Tchaikovsky’s most immediate financial distress, and the Quartet’s second movement—Andante Cantabile (“Moderate in tempo, singing”)—became one of his most popular creations. 

The Andante Cantabile is built from two themes. The first is a folk song that Tchaikovsky collected during a visit to Ukraine in summer 1866. Titled Vanya, the words of the old tune could hardly be less appropriate to its lovely setting: “Vanya sat on the sofa and smoked a pipe of tobacco.” The second theme, given by the violins above a pizzicato accompaniment, is entirely of Tchaikovsky’s  own invention.

TCHAIKOVSKY: VIOLIN CONCERTO

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 (1878)
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

In the summer of 1877, Tchaikovsky undertook the disastrous marriage that lasted less than three weeks and resulted in his emotional collapse and attempted suicide. He decided that travel outside of Russia would be a balm to his spirit, and he duly installed himself at Clarens on Lake Geneva in Switzerland soon after the first of the year. In Clarens, he had already begun work on a piano sonata when he heard the colorful Symphonie Espagnole by the French composer Edouard Lalo. He was so excited by the possibilities of a work for solo violin and orchestra that he set aside the sonata and immediately began a concerto of his own. 

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto opens quietly with a tentative introductory tune. After a few unaccompanied measures, the violin presents the lovely main theme. The second theme begins a long buildup leading into the development, launched with a sweeping presentation of the main theme. A flashing cadenza serves as a link to the recapitulation. The Andante suggests the music of a Gypsy fiddler. The finale is imbued with the propulsive spirit of a dashing Russian dance.

SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO. 2

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (1901-1902)
JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957)

Sibelius spent the early months of 1901 in Italy, away from the rigors of the Scandinavian winter. So inspired was he by the culture, history and beauty of the sunny south (as had been Goethe and Brahms) that he envisioned a work based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. However, a second symphony to follow the first of 1899 was gestating, and the Dante work was eventually abandoned. Sibelius was well launched on the new Second Symphony by the time he left for home. He made two important stops before returning to Finland. The first was at Prague, where he met Dvořák; the second was to hear performances of his works at the June Music Festival in Heidelberg that enhanced his budding European reputation. Still flush with the success of his 1901 tour when he arrived home, he decided he was secure enough financially (thanks in large part to an annual stipend initiated in 1897 by the Finnish government) to leave his teaching job and devote himself full time to composition. Sibelius came into his creative maturity with the Second Symphony. So successful was the work’s premiere on March 8, 1902 that it had to be repeated at three successive concerts in a short time to satisfy the clamor for further performances. 

The Second Symphony opens with an introduction in which the strings present a chordal motive that courses through much of the first movement. A bright, folk-like strain for the woodwinds and a hymnal response from the horns constitute the opening theme. The second theme starts with a long-held note that intensifies to a quick rhythmic flourish. This theme and a complementary one of angular leaps and unsettled tonality close the exposition and figure prominently in the ensuing development. A stentorian brass chorale closes this section and leads to the recapitulation. The second movement, though closely related to sonatina form (sonata without development), is best heard as a series of dramatic paragraphs whose strengths lie not only in their individual qualities, but also in their powerful juxtapositions. The third movement is a three-part form whose lyrical, unhurried central trio provides a strong contrast to the mercurial surrounding scherzo. The slow music of the trio returns as a bridge to the sonata-form closing movement, which has a grand sweep and uplifting spirituality that make it one of the last unadulterated flowerings of the great Romantic tradition.

Stéphane Denève, Conductor

Stéphane Denève is currently in his fifth season as principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a position that runs through the 2019-20 season. He spends multiple weeks each year with the ensemble, conducting subscription, tour, and summer concerts. His 2018-19 subscription season appearances include three weeks of concerts, two of which are devoted to a Barnes/Stokowski Festival, a celebration of the artistic passion Albert Barnes and Leopold Stokowski shared. Mr. Denève has become very well known to audiences at Verizon Hall, the Mann Center, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, having appeared as guest conductor numerous times since making his debut in 2007. He has led more programs than any other guest conductor during that time period, in repertoire that has spanned more than 100 works, ranging from Classical through the contemporary, including presentations with dance, theater, film, and cirque performers. 

Mr. Denève is also music director of the Brussels Philharmonic and director of its Centre for Future Orchestral Repertoire (CffOR), and with the 2019-20 season will become music director of the St. Louis Symphony. He was previously chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. 

Recent engagements in Europe and Asia include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Vienna Symphony, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NHK Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Czech Philharmonic, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In North America he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 with the Boston Symphony, with which he has appeared several times, both in Boston and at Tanglewood. He regularly conducts the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony. He is also a popular guest at many of the U.S. summer music festivals, including Bravo! Vail, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Hollywood Bowl, the Blossom Music Festival, and Festival Napa Valley. Summer 2018 saw his debuts at the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West, and the 2018-19 season will see him lead a major U.S. tour with the Brussels Philharmonic. 

Mr. Denève enjoys close relationships with many of the world’s leading artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yo-Yo Ma, Nikolaj Znaider, James Ehnes, Leif Ove Andsnes, Leonidas Kavakos, Nicholas Angelich, Lang Lang, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Gil Shaham, Emanuel Ax, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Lars Vogt, Nikolai Lugansky, Paul Lewis, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, and Augustin Hadelich. 

In the field of opera Mr. Denève has led productions at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the Opéra National de Paris. 

As a recording artist, Mr. Denève has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck, and Connesson. He is a triple winner of the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, was shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award, and won the prize for symphonic music at the International Classical Music Awards. His most recent releases are discs of Prokofiev suites and the works of Connesson with the Brussels Philharmonic (awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the Caecilia Award, and Classica magazine’s CHOC of the Year) and a disc with the piano duo Lucas and Arthur Jussen and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all for Deutsche Grammophon. 

A graduate of, and prizewinner at, the Paris Conservatory, Mr. Denève worked closely in his early career with Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre, and Seiji Ozawa. He is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners and has worked regularly with young people in the programs of the Tanglewood Music Center, the New World Symphony, the Colburn School, and the Music Academy of the West, among others. 

Photo: Jessica Griffin

James Ehnes, Violin

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of the world’s most respected conductors including Ashkenazy, Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Denève, Elder, Ivan Fischer, Gardner, Paavo Järvi, Mena, Noseda, Robertson and Runnicles. Ehnes’s long list of orchestras includes, amongst others, the Boston, Chicago, London, NHK and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Philharmonia and DSO Berlin orchestras.

Recent and future orchestral highlights include the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with Noseda, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Shelley, Orchestre National de France with Gardner, San Francisco Symphony with Janowski, Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Orozco-Estrada, Hong Kong Philharmonic with van Zweden and Gothenburg Symphony with Nagano, as well as his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in spring 2019 and a residency with the Minnesota Orchestra throughout 2017/18. In 2017, Ehnes premiered the Aaron-Jay Kernis Violin Concerto with the Toronto, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and gave further performances of the piece with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Ehnes was awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category.

Alongside his concerto work, James Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Verbier Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix, and in 2009 he made a sensational debut at the Salzburg Festival performing the Paganini Caprices. In 2016, Ehnes undertook a cross-Canada recital tour, performing in each of the country’s provinces and territories, to celebrate his 40th birthday.

As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with leading artists such as Andsnes, Capucon, Lortie, Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Tamestit, Vogler and Yuja Wang. In 2010, he formally established the Ehnes Quartet, with whom he has performed in Europe at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and Théâtre du Jeu de Paume in Aix, amongst others. Ehnes is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings including a Gramophone Award for his live recording of the Elgar Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the Philharmonia Orchestra. His recording of the Korngold, Barber and Walton violin concertos won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance’ and a JUNO award for ‘Best Classical Album of the Year’. His recording of the Paganini Caprices earned him universal praise, with Diapason writing of the disc, “Ehnes confirms the predictions of Erick Friedman, eminent student of Heifetz: ‘there is only one like him born every hundred years’.” Ehnes’s recent recording of the Bartók Concerti was nominated for a Gramophone Award in the Concerto category. Recent releases include sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Elgar and Respighi, and concertos by Britten, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Walton, as well as the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze, which was released in October 2017 (Onyx Classics).

Ehnes began violin studies at the age of four, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, made his orchestral debut with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal aged 13 and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010 was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.

Photo: Benjamin Ealovega