The Heifetz Collection, Volume 22 - SHOWPIECES: Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, Chausson

Musical images and imprints of France and Spain are blended in the five showpieces for violin and orchestra on this disc. Each calls for sensuous tone and virtuosic execution, elements that are the earmarks of Jascha Heifetz. The silken tone and unruffled elegance of Heifetz's playing are qualities musical historians usually associate with the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, who introduced the Symphonie espagnole and the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso to the world as well as all three of Saint-Saëns's violin concertos. (But there the Sarasate-Heifetz analogy stops: the legendary Spaniard's playing of Bach and Beethoven was much criticized, and he virtually dismissed the Brahms concerto.) The friendship that bound Edouard Lalo to Sarasate was preordained. Lalo was of Spanish ancestry, and Sarasate made Paris his home. But Lalo's fascination with Spanish musical folk idioms was by no means an isolated case. Bizet, Massenet, Chabrier, Debussy, Ravel and Ibert—all distinguished French composers embracing two generations—were similarly infected by sensuous Spanish melodies and rhythms. Lalo's Symphonie espagnole is a concert suite in five movements. The first adheres to traditional sonata form and has an abundance of bravura in the development section. The second movement is a serenade in seguidilla rhythm with guitarlike pizzicato figures supporting the solo violin. The third movement was frequently omitted by past generations of violinists, including Heifetz—to our loss. A melancholy fourth movement with two attractive themes leads into a festive and brilliant rondo finale in which the alternating episodes culminate in a boldly virtuosic conclusion. There are some 20 works in Camille Saint-Saëns's prodigious output that were composed for solo instruments and orchestra. The five piano concertos are the most prominent among them, which is not surprising considering the composer's own keyboard virtuosity. His violin and cello concertos also exhibit an intimate knowledge of these instruments, placed at the service of colorful and melodious writing. The violin concertos were dedicated to Sarasate as was the Introductio and Rondo Capriccioso, written in 1863. The self-descriptive title alludes to an Andante malinconico based on a questioning motif and a sparkling rondo laden with virtuoso fireworks. From its inception the piece has appealed to violinists as well as audiences. The somewhat later (1887) Havanaise is one of the many vivid impressions that grew out of this peripatetic composer's travels. Here languorous Spanish themes in characteristic rhythms dominate. As for Sarasate, whose shadow is hovering over these remarks, he was keenly attracted to folk music even beyond the boundaries of his native Spain. There are Scottish and Italian fantasies among his compositions, but none to match the universal popularity of his Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), drawn from Hungarian sources. Central to its structure is the slow, melancholy third theme, instantly recognized by all Hungarians. According to recent scholarship, the melody originated with a prolific tunesmith named Elemér Szentirmay in 1873 (it is doubtful that the author ever realized any income from Sarasate's brilliant adaptation). The Poème of Ernest Chausson, harmonically the most inventive of the five pieces on this disc, was introduced in Paris on April 4,1897, by the great Eugène Ysaye. This aptly named work is a seamlessly constructed rhapsody that disdains violin fireworks of the obvious kind. The solo violin soars over rich orchestral support in a poetic effusion that rises from a voluptuous opening theme. It is marked Lento e misterioso, reflecting an element of mysticism attributed to Chausson's personality. —George Jellinek