A Russian evening with three Russian composers
Our concert begins with the overture to the opera by the youngest of the featured composers, Dmitry Kabalevsky. Written in 1937, it is based on a novel by Romain Rolland. The opera’s title character, Colas Breugnon, is a master carpenter and woodcarver living in a small 17th-century French town, content with his daily life, enjoying every moment and all pleasures of it. His tranquil life is shattered when he loses his wife to the plague, falls ill himself, and in his absence his house is burnt down, his possessions are looted and his works destroyed. The town where he lives falls into the hands of robber gangs and anarchy prevails everywhere. Finally, Colas is the one to brings order to the city and organise the locals’ life again. While building his new house, he breaks his leg and is permanently forced to bed. But this does not dampen his spirits; he passes the time reading Plutarch. Colas is the type of man who never loses his zest for life, who comes out of every trial and loss stronger than ever. Kabalevsky did thorough research to include French and Burgundian folk songs in his music. The overture is the most frequently performed part of the opera, a musical expression of the protagonist’s vitality, humour and wisdom.
In the early 1930s, Prokofiev entered into a creative crisis. The problem that preoccupied him most what kind of music he should write that the audience of his day would be pleased with. One of his most important conclusions was that melodic music was the best way to bring contemporary music closer to the audience of the time. So when in 1935 the French violinist Robert Seutance asked Prokofiev to write a violin concerto, he reached back to traditional forms and put melody first. His Violin Concerto No. 2 blends classical tradition with the innovations of his new artistic period. Tradition is well reflected in the concertante relationship between violin and orchestra, the three-movement fast-slow-fast form, the harmonies and the orchestration. Prokofiev’s motives colour this traditional sound and make the Violin Concerto No. 2 an exciting work of music.
In the second half of the evening, Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky, the most prestigious of the three composers, will be performed. The work was composed in 1888 and, although it received mixed reviews when it was premièred, it has become the composer’s most popular and most performed work. It can be considered a symphony of fate, with no precise programme, but the composer himself wrote this comment on the work: “Complete resignation before Fate, or, which is the same, before the inscrutable predestination of Providence…”. The opening theme represents this idea and recurs in each movement as a reminder, even though each movement has its own musical theme. It is a large-scale work with a sombre mood, which still ends on a hopeful note.
