ALC 0114 Tchaikovsky - Rachmaninoff - Prokofiev

The five pieces by P. I. Tchaikovsky included in this CD belong to three different opuses. The “Serenade Melancolique” Op. 26 was Tchaikovsky’s first composition for violin and orchestra. Written in 1875, shortly after completing his First Piano Concerto, the Serenade was premiered by Adolph Brodsky. The arrangement for violin and piano presented here belongs to the composer. The title is sufficiently descriptive of the piece’s character; it is to be noted that the chosen tonality (B flat minor) causes the violin to play almost no single open string in the entire 10-minute piece, thus reinforcing its introspective character. The vibrant and colorful “Valse-scherzo” Op. 34 was written two years later and published in 1878. It was dedicated to Iosif Kotek. It is written in rounded binary form, with a cadenza. It is worth mentioning that in Tchaikovsky’s catalogue this piece precedes his famous Violin Concerto Op. 35, which led some scholars to believe that Valse-scherzo was a preparatory exercise of sorts. Both the violin and piano and violin and orchestra versions belong to the composer, although there are grounds to think that Kotek participated in the orchestration of the piece.