Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tchaikovsky)

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op 44 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed 1880/81 and dedicated it to Nikolai Rubinstein, who died almost simultaneously with the premiere. It was first performed on 11 March 1881 in Moscow under the direction of his brother Anton Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky with the student Sergei Taneyev at the piano. On November 12, 1881, the concert was under the direction of Theodore Thomas with pianist Madeleine Schiller their American debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Background

Hardly a concert has striven so little by comparison with another plant and provoked him but unspoken: a comparison with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, which was started in 1875 from Boston a veritable triumph. One can say that this development has been the work of the two following piano concertos hindrance. The 2nd Piano Concerto in G major was quite well received by the public in 1882. But it came at little things: The first and the second set were too long, the first movement in particular seemed also thematically very confusing and equipped with too many solo cadenzas.

Great astonishment aroused by the fact that the piano in the second movement, Andante non troppo, which takes back and accompanied two other soloists, in essence, a violinist and a cellist. Prompt the concert has undergone several adaptations, the pianist Alexander Siloti, Sergei Rachmaninoff's cousin, reduced the first set to 24 and the second equal to 200 cycles and corrected some tempo markings upward, that is: The concert was faster.

Until now ekes Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2, which is a special witness of romantic piano music because of its thematic ingenuity and expressive passages of dialogue between the solo instrument and orchestra, a shadowy existence mostly as a recording on sound recordings as part of the complete recordings Tchaikovsky 's piano works with orchestra. The Pianist Andrei Hoteev has sought for his recording of the 1998 original text of the concert, added the missing passages again and complied with the procedure provided for in the original tempo.

The movement titles of the concert are:

• Allegro molto vivace e brilliant
• Andante non troppo
• Allegro con fuoco

The additives e molto vivace non troppo and con fuoco come from Siloti.

The header record

The first theme in G major, a dynamic less seems to spring of romance because the ideal of Viennese Classicism: Clearly structured, it comes first in the orchestra, repeated by the piano. Each paragraph of the topic is decided with so-called Mannheim rockets, scale- shaped wells in sixteenth notes, which formed a classic decorative Mozart's time. ( Tchaikovsky was not only up but also downturns )

But as early as cycle 16 all does not seem to be as we know it from an exposure in the traditional sense. The issue is with a slightly different theme in E minor on. A total of six thematic ideas, the head set out, namely near the entrance theme in G major and the clock from 16 more from clock 32, 78, 147 and 295 Among them is of course the obligatory second theme. Considers the number of cycles it looks as though Tchaikovsky built a little math in your head set, each new issue starts after an approximate doubling of the number of cycles.

And it results in an additional feature: all six issues are closely intertwined. Tchaikovsky has illuminated a particular section of the theme in G major in the other sections of always new perspectives. It is the combination of 1-Viertel/2-Achtel/1-Halbe-Notenbewegung in the interval of a second, which occurs as a formation in all subjects. ( In the topic from bar 147 it is modified to the extent that Tchaikovsky does not stick to the fixed note values ​​, but probably at one second intervals. ) And when he wanted to escape the confines of the interval again, it sets the subject is always new, melodic far -reaching melodies and piano cadenzas added.

With regard to the second theme Tchaikovsky has to come up with something extraordinary: In bar 73 to 77 finally in at the fundamental key of G major for the second theme conventionally provided key arrived in D major, he sits in bar 78 a schwurbeligen orchestral chord, with the everything is simply pulled a semitone higher. The second issue is thus in E-flat major. An introduction by the clarinet follows a lyrical motif, which is spun into a dialogue between the piano and flute. The recapitulation at measure 478 is first introduced by a solo cadenza on the Mannheim rocket of the first theme. They ( Reprise) is entirely focused on the first and second topic that will be presented there in the classical sense in immediate succession.

The second sentence

The second sentence in D major begins with dissonant chords, which are immediately dissolved, the orchestra intones as she sighs. It is followed by a solo violin occurring, which leads like imitating the explanatory prologue of a narrator to the actual topic at measure 20. One also played solo cello added occurs. The piano picks late on the topic and sets this in the further course of the quiet a little more passionate counter in a minor key, but then lingers only as an accompaniment of violin cello, which alternate in a long, but also verschränkenden dialogue entered.

The third set

The final movement in G major is a typical Rondo with various Russian motifs, including a kosakisches theme that the pianist once again provides an opportunity because of its difficulty to present to the public his skills.

Discography

• Emil Gilels, The New Philharmonia Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, EMI
• Emil Gilels, The USSR Academic Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov Melodiya
• Mikhail Pletnev, Moskow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev
• Andrej Hoteev, Moskow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev COOK Schwann