Legende - Sarasate, Paganini, Bazzini, Wieniawski: Works for Violin and Orchestra

Folklore within "cultured" music The folk music, which is born and develops spontaneously within a ethnic group, has always exercised a great attraction over so-called cultured musicians: the rhythmic patterns of musical folklore, the typical accentuations, the musical scales with their hard to classify intervals, the "colouring" of the instruments and the timbric mixtures, are all unpredictable and unusual, and it is all these elements that stir up creative fantasy. When the cultured composer wants to borrow from the patrimony of folk music he underlines its roughness and originality, but at the same time, he tends to codify and direct it towards patterns and expressive moods that belong to the language of traditional music. All the compositions, included in the present recording, are examples of this kind of contamination and assimilation of different cultures. The hungarian-gypsy musical soul in Zigeunerweisen is the object of the composer Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), famous violin virtuoso and composer greatly inspired by the folk tradition. Sarasate takes a few themes from the hungarian-tzigane tradition and assigns them to the violin, and the rich organic of the symphonic orchestra renders the accompaniment more "noble". What stands out the most is a heart-rendering melody in slow tempo, strangely enough, it is the only one that is not of authentic tzigane origin as it was the work of the composer Elemir Scentirmay (1836-1908), as Sarasate rather honestly declared in the first edition. The Fantasie de Concert sur des motifs de l'Opéra "Carmen" has been wrongly counted among the Paraphrases, Fantasies and Variations on operatic themes, which filled the musical panorama of the nineteenth century. In actual fact, Sarasate had simply substituted the human voice with that of the violin, at times making the most of some of the instrument's ingenious resources, but he left the melodic pattern and the orchestral accompaniment substantially unaltered. The entire composition could be defined as a third Suite dall'Opera to be placed alongside the existing two by Bizet. Deprived of words, scenic action and, therefore, of the dramatic vicissitudes, the Fantasie restores all the suggestion of musical folklore and of the styles of Spanish music that were captured by Bizet. Paganini (1782-1840) in his musical production often amused himself by borrowing from folk repertoires. "Il Carnevale di Venezia" (sometimes presented under the title of Variations on the canzonetta "O mamma mamma cara") which he must have been particularly fond of, going by what he affirmed in a letter, dated 12th of December 1829, written to his dearest friend Germi: "...the variations on the canzonetta o mamma mamma cara that I have composed by far exceed everything else. I, too, do not know how to explain it." This composition was a great success, so much so that throughout the entire nineteenth century an enormous number of published editions flourished, these contained a great many variations which were falsely attributed to Paganini. This was, probably, the reason why his devoted pupil Camillo Sivori wanted to affix the following words to the only existing autograph manuscript of the variations: " I certify that this is the true writing and the true variations of Paganini's Carnevale di Venezia; Paris 11th March 1886 Camillo Sivori." The present interpretation, which is based upon this manuscript, has eliminated a great number of illegitimate variations that still today are proposed as authentic. During his performance, following a practice in use at the time, Paganini would precede the Variation with a slow introduction. He used the Adagio of his third Concerto for the Carnevale di Venezia. "...a cantabile, in long phrases of melody, full of sweetness and genius. It was impossible for anything to be in a purer taste, or fitter to be a model to singers, than the performance of this piece." This was the impression of a London reporter after having heard Paganini playing this Adagio. The Ronde des Lutins, Scherzo fantastique of Antonio Bazzini (1818-1897), also revealed an evident influence of the folk tradition. The swirling rhythm of the quadruplets that alternate moments of languid rubato , inevitably call to mind the typical character of the Csárdás. The composition is presented here in what should have been its original conception, that is, with an orchestral accompaniment. The score has been reconstructed according to indications of instruments that appeared in the first edition for violin and piano in 1852. Perhaps, the title Légende, given by Wieniawski to the first of these two compositions, was suggested to him by the fairytale atmosphere that can be felt right from the initial mysterious apparition of horns and bassoons. In this case too, the folk spirit is ever present in the central section, where the composer refers to a particular bohemian dance step, which is characterized by the rapid stamping of feet. The Polonaise, as most dance forms had its origins in the folk tradition, and as other dances it went from the common people to the Court, and from the Court to the Parlours. The Polonaise de Concert in D major by Wieniawski is often performed with a piano accompaniment; the version for violin and pianoforte invites a very free choice of tempo and a frequent use of the rubato, and this gives it the typical characteristics of Parlour music. The original version for violin and orchestra, which is proposed here, allows inedited aspects to be grasped, which restore it with a now solemn, now heroic, intense and dramatic character.