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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: Re: I agree posted by Todd Krieger on March 10, 2007 at 11:58:12:
"Animation" of the melodic line? An interesting thought. I did find that the first movement became more interesting to me after the first section was finished. It gained a bit more life. Again, this is just my impression, not a critique of the performance. I find no fault with the performance intellectually. It seemed well thought out.Yes, finding someone who can bang as well as tinkle isn't easy, and the Tchaikovsky 1st is easy prey for bangers. And Dutoit did a good job of accompanying the piano, which is the job of an orchestra much of the time in a concerto.
There was a hilarious cut on an old vinyl recording of the Hoffnung Music Festival. It was a concerto for piano VS. orchestra. One of them played the Grieg concerto and the other the Tchaikovsky. I can't remember which but it was a scream, and all too true much of the time. Whose ego will win, the conductor's or the soloist's? More people should remember that performers are there to serve the music, not the other way around.
Perhaps because of Tchaikovsky's extraordinary gift for melody he is viewed as easy to play, and thus, the music of choice for too many mediocre artists. Anyone can play the 1st, right?
Then there is the sensitivity of the music. Again, that is easily mistaken for maudlin sentimentality. Many people mistake feeling for emotion. I use the latter in the sense of basic animal reaction and the former as representing something deeper, something not alien to intellect but a complement.
There is a great deal of feeling in Tchaikovsky but restraint must be taken in interpretation. From all accounts, he was an intelligent person and too often intellect is left out of performances of his works. Again, I think, that's due in large part to the "whistle factor". Tchaikovsky is easy to whistle and some people mistake that for lack of depth, which has often baffled me. Just because something is pretty doesn't mean it's shallow. Why is it gorgeous paintings aren't accused of being facile, but beautiful melodies are often suspect?
I agree with your note about performances of Tchaikovsky in the past. Perhaps it is difficult to escape the shallowness of our age, regardless of the area of society examined. The arts are not separate but usually a reflection of the times.
Thanks for providing that performance. While I might not want a recording of it, it got me examining Tchaikovsky again, and it was a very worthwhile version of the piece. If you're interested, there are two recordings of the 1st that I've run into whose tempo in the first movement is more to my liking. One is conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy leading the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI and the other is Alexander Lazarev conducting the BBC Symphony. That's on Hyperion. Although neither is necessarily superior to the YouTube performance, they provide worthy examples to my ear of Tchaikovsky done right.
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Follow Ups
- Interesting points - psgary 19:21:10 03/10/07 (0)
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