Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta & the Staatskapelle Berlin

It is one of the most famous and most popular works of classical music. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 captivates audiences with its powerful opening chords and lyrical melodies. Here, the iconic piece is performed by pianist Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Zubin Mehta. The concert took place on 15 November 2012 at the Berliner Philharmonie to mark Daniel Barenboim's 70th birthday.

(00:00) Arrival on stage
(00:26) I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
(23:22) II. Andantino semplice
(31:03) III. Allegro con fuoco

By the early 1870s, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) had already achieved some fame in Moscow and St Petersburg. Several of his operas had been well received, but the Russian composer also attracted attention with orchestral works such as the two Shakespeare-inspired fantasies 'The Tempest' and 'Romeo and Juliet', and chamber music such as the First String Quartet. Now, with his First Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky wanted to open up a new genre.

However, Tchaikovsky was initially unsure. In a letter to his brother Anatol in December 1874, he wrote: "The work is progressing very slowly and does not really want to succeed. But I remain true to my principles and force my mind to work out piano passages: The result is mild nervousness'. It was a real challenge for him to write the Piano Concerto, as there were no models for it in Russia at the time. Almost inevitably, Tchaikovsky could not avoid giving the impression of being a 'Westerner', for whom the connection with the Viennese Classical music of Mozart or Beethoven, or the Romanticism of Chopin or Liszt, was more important than any orientation towards his own Russian traditions.

The formal design of his Piano Concerto No. 1 could support this claim, given that Tchaikovsky followed a classical pattern in composing it: a broadly conceived fast first movement with motivic and thematic contrasts, followed by a cantabile slow movement of great expressiveness, while the rondo finale is overtly virtuosic in tone. In terms of melodic material, however, Tchaikovsky was very much in touch with his homeland: In the two outer movements, he uses themes influenced by Slavic folklore.

Tchaikovsky originally intended to dedicate the First Piano Concerto to his friend and mentor Nikolai Rubinstein, who was to give the first performance, but the famous Moscow pianist didn't like it, telling Tchaikovsky that "the concerto is bad, unplayable, the phrases hackneyed and clumsy, the ideas weak".

Tchaikovsky asked another prominent pianist, Hans von Bülow if he would be willing to play the piano concerto. He responded enthusiastically. Unlike Rubinstein, von Bülow found many original ideas, a perfect sense of form and a wealth of interesting details in the work. Von Bülow gratefully accepted Tchaikovsky's dedication and performed the work at its premiere in Boston in 1875. The performance was a real triumph for Tchaikovsky with the final movement repeated on all six evenings. Following the USA, the work went on to conquer Russia and Europe.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1942, Daniel Barenboim is one of the great artists of our time. As a pianist and conductor, he has performed in the major cities of Europe and the world for decades, and as the founder of numerous projects, including the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim has greatly enriched the international music scene. Daniel Barenboim was General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin from the end of 1991 until January 2023, and in the autumn of 2000 he was elected Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin for life.

Like his friend Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta is considered a cosmopolitan and world-class musician. Born in Bombay in 1936, Mehta studied conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music and was soon conducting both the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been closely associated with all three ensembles ever since. In 1978 he was appointed Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. His tenure there lasted 13 years, the longest in the orchestra's history. Mehta was still conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2023 at the age of 87.

The Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Originally founded as a court orchestra by Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg in 1570, the ensemble found its artistic home in the Royal Court Opera House Unter den Linden when it was opened by Frederick II of Prussia in 1742.

© 2012 Accentus/Unitel

Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey

and check out more piano concertos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNcQGsF2uIw&list=PL_SdnzPd3eBU7k2TJgrgNCc9aygnNkaGZ

Subscribe to DW Classical Music:
https://www.youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic

#pianoconcerto #tchaikovsky #classicalpiano

- Enlace a artículo -

Más info en https://ift.tt/LCV69r0 / Tfno. & WA 607725547 Centro MENADEL (Frasco Martín) Psicología Clínica y Tradicional en Mijas. #Menadel #Psicología #Clínica #Tradicional #MijasPueblo

*No suscribimos necesariamente las opiniones o artículos aquí compartidos. No todo es lo que parece.