Igor Stravinsky: Violin Concerto (1931) with full score

0:00 I. Toccata
5:50 II. Aria I
10:17 III. Aria II
15:42 IV. Capriccio

Performers: Kyung-Wha Chung (violin), André Previn (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra

Notes stolen from the Houston Symphony (https://houstonsymphony.org/stravinsk...
Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto dates from 1931, a year far removed from the heady epoch that produced the Scherzo fantastique, The Firebird, and Stravinsky’s other famous works for Diaghilev’s Ballets russes. After the carnage of World War I, artists across Europe began to strive for a new clarity, tranquility, and objectivity in their works, frequently making reference to the styles and abstract forms of the past. Stravinsky, naturally, was in the vanguard of this new movement, which soon became known as “neoclassicism.” With its playful character and light touch, his violin concerto exemplifies this new style.

Samuel Dushkin, the dedicatee of the piece, related in a telling incident regarding the chord that opens the piece. “During the winter I saw Stravinsky in Paris quite often. One day when we were lunching in a restaurant, Stravinsky took out a piece of paper and wrote down this chord [the chord that starts the four movements], and asked me if it could be played. I had never seen a chord with such an enormous stretch, from the E to the top A, and I said ‘No.’ Stravinsky said sadly ‘Quel domage’ (what a pity). After I got home, I tried it, and, to my astonishment, I found that in that register, the stretch of the eleventh was relatively easy to play, and the sound fascinated me. I telephoned Stravinsky at once to tell him that it could be done. When the concerto was finished, more than six months later, I understood his disappointment when I first said ‘No.’ This chord, in a different dress, begins each of the four movements. Stravinsky himself calls it his ‘passport’ to that concerto.”

After the opening “passport,” the first movement begins with the presentation of a blithe main idea in the trumpets, which is soon reinterpreted by the soloist. This idea is restated and developed throughout the movement until it returns in its original form near the end. Structurally, the movement is not unlike one by Bach, whose music frequently provided inspiration to Stravinsky during his neoclassical phase. Stravinsky labels this movement a toccata, a type of baroque piece meant to showcase dexterity, and though the movement is full of Stravinsky’s signature metrical changes and rhythmic games, the music adheres to a steady, walking pace tempo throughout, much in the baroque manner. The music however, is distinctly modern, full of passing, fragmentary musical allusions: we hear a violinist practicing Brahms’ Double Concerto, scraps of a popular waltz tune, a baroque musette, and a barrel organ churning out faux-Tchaikovsky. It is easy to imagine Stravinsky dreaming up this music while strolling through Paris on a bracing spring day.

The second movement, Aria I, has a more melancholy cast, which is nevertheless undercut by cheeky irony throughout. After the opening “passport” chords, the soloist launches into a weepy melody which soon becomes overrun with ornamentation—a nod to the often florid singing of the baroque era. A lighter, syncopated idea later appears in the strings beneath the soloist’s high, whistling harmonics, notes produced by barely touching the violin’s strings. The music then becomes more fragmented and developmental, building to the mock crisis of a diminished chord in the winds and brass (listeners may recognize this as the harmony typical associated with a woman tied to the train tracks in silent movies). The main theme is then reprised, leading to an impish final note.

By contrast, the next movement, Aria II, seems more sincere, attaining real pathos and beauty. The “passport” chord takes on a more strident tone as it begins the movement, leading to a poignant melody for the soloist. The tempo quickens for a contrasting passage featuring a breathless, pulsing accompaniment, before a reprise of the main theme.

Any lingering shadows are swept away as the “passport” chord ushers in the playful finale, titled Capriccio (“caprice”). After some introductory flourishes, the soloist introduces a rustic fiddle tune above a humorously earthy “boom-chick” accompaniment of bassoons (the practice of maintaining a “high tone” for earlier movements and then letting one’s hair down for a more folksy finale was common in eighteenth century music). As the movement unfolds, savvy listeners may recognize hints of the first movement of Bach’s “Double” Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043, one of Stravinsky’s favorite pieces. Stravinsky himself acknowledged Bach’s concerto as the inspiration for a later passage when the soloist is joined by a violin from the orchestra for a duet. The tempo picks up for a presto finale, bringing the concerto to a spirited, virtuoso conclusion.

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