Erlangen 91052 (09)—Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major (Gold Medal)

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square Series "Erlangen 91052"
Click here for the "Erlangen 91052" Resource Center—All Posts Available 
One year ago on Round and  Square (22 February 2013)—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 02-22
Two years ago on Round and Square (22 February 2012)—Seinfeld Ethnography: Dog Medicine

[a] All together RF

Click here for other posts in this Round and Square mini-series:

Bronze Medals                    Silver Medals                    Gold Medal

We have seen a lot in this little mini-series on Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major. We heard the flurry and nuance of the first movement, which is like a complete concerto in itself. Audiences often applaud wildly in their gullible joy when it is over. They are mistaken, of course; there is a beautifully soft and resonant second movement and a whirwind finale to wrap it all up. In one way or another, the performer "suffers"—and often visibly so. We have seen pouring sweat, flying hair, and "merely" swaying bow-work as soloists strive to complete the thirty-five minute piece.

[b] Venue RF

The Round and Square editorial board has awarded bronze and silver medals—six in all.

Before we proceed to our single gold medalist, let's remember one key thing from the earlier posts. These medals—they are not about who is best. I mean, der liebe Gott, I have watched almost thirty performances in the last week or so. They are recent and "early," young and old, male and female. From Sarah Chang to Isaac Stern, they are all consistent.

They are all the best. 

So let's just get over the idea that this is a sort of "top performance" list here. It's not. As I wrote a few days ago, it is better to think of this as the Olympic Downhill. Any of the top dozen or so skiers could win on the day of the Olympic race. Any of the top thirty might win if everything goes just right. The way to think about these posts is to view them through the lens of toil and joy. 

[c] Tchaikovsky Point RF

It's all about abmühen.

All of our medalists have fiddled through a burning ring of exertion, worry, distress, and endeavor. The concerto is about toil, struggle, and controlled frenzy (if you doubt me, watch the finale for any dozen soloists—just do it). The bronze medalists suffered in fairly traditional ways (there was lots of guy-sweat). The silver medalists started to change the perspective a little bit (slender guys under pore-water and hair flying in the bowstring).

So what about the gold? What separates our one gold medalist from all of the other concertos? Is it because she is technically better than, say, David Oistrakh or Jascha Heifetz? No, even though I am absolutely enthralled by her work as a performer, I cannot argue (nor would I ever be so foolish) as to pit these talents head-to-head. If they could race downhill while playing, with the fastest time "winning" on any given day, well, maybe. As it is, however, it would be like judging figure skating...and we all know where that ends up.

[d] Technically speaking RF

We don't do that here. 

So, before we introduce the gold medalist, let's just remember that (beyond high school concerts, perhaps), the quality level is so high that it is like the thousandths of a second that divide the top skiers in the world on any given Olympic day. The winner is always worthy, and has risen to the top of a wonderfully talented group. 

That is where we're going, and our theme is abmühen.

***  ***

Our gold medalist is Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and I have not fallen for a musician quite so passionately since I first heard Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, and Patty Loveless. She is our gold medalist because the love of the music courses through her in ways that give an emotional turn to Josh Bell's sweat glands. Patricia doesn't "sweat it"; instead, she wears her emotions on her bow—and in her expressions. I have never seen a performer as wonderfully animated as Kopatchinskaja. 

[e] Story RF

She is like a storyteller—now full of narrative energy, now quiet and reflective.

Always expressive.

But then I found an added layer. This performer not only played it, but she explained it in a way that I always "knew"...yet never quite fully grasped. The problem is that I can't find the video that contains her full interview (it will be added if I do). In the meantime, we have a shorter version that covers many of Kopatchinskaja's main points—and in German, to boot. She speaks of toil, of nuance, and of technical demands. Whether or not you know German, you can see the passion that she has for the music. 

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Documentary 9:34

Seriously, even if you don't know German, just watch her expressions.

And then she walks out onto the stage.

[f] Public RF

She's a fireball, and she made me think about the relationship between the composer, the piece of music, the conductor, the orchestra, and the soloist in new ways. I do not claim that any of this is original. It is my amateur love of music that rivets me. It did remind me of a few things that I know a bit more deeply, though—the art of storytelling, on the one hand, and Shakespeare's King Lear, on the other.

Let me explain.

[g] Don't blow it on the first scene...Dad RF

It is not at all uncommon in Shakespearian criticism—especially when referring to the stage—to note that the actor who spends all of his emotional energy on Act I, Scene I in King Lear is in very great danger of limping home (even beyond the limping home that is built into the play), without the energy to bring Lear's emotional wagon-ride to fruition. Those first scenes need to be intense, and to bring the audience and the story together in their crazy "let me give away my kingdom and now tell me how much you love me, too" frenzy. The temptation on the part of all but the most practiced and circumspect of actors is to pour it all out right there.

And yet...and yet...there are four acts to go. With the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, there are two movements left after the wild ending of the first movement.

Now watch Patricia Kopatchinskaja in the finale of the concerto. Watch her expression. Watch the very different kind of toll that it takes on her. Above all, she brings out the quintessentially social relationship between soloist and orchestra (the piece is truly a musical back-and-forth, and we must watch closely the "conversation" between violin, flute, and oboe near the end). Kopatchinskaja is also deeply in-tune with the conductor. Watch her technically brilliant and socially subtle rendition. 

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Finale 5:48 

We will return to more straightforwardly Germanic posts in this series beginning on Tuesday, but this has been an education for me in the exertion and exhilaration (in a word, abmühen) of musical performance. And if you have never heard of Patricia Kopatchinskaja, you should do some searches through the vast musical trove on the internet. It will change your life.

She's golden.

Click here for other posts in this Round and Square mini-series:

Bronze Medals                    Silver Medals                    Gold Medal

Next
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Erlangen 91052 (10)—Everyday Vocabulary: Einfach
We get back to the basics on Tuesday. It's simply...complicated in all sorts of cultural (if not linguistic) ways.

[h] Golden RF

Remonstrance (1)—King Lear

Click here for the introduction to Round and Square's series on remonstrance.

[a] Lear's wrath

              Remonstrance 1                Remonstrance 2                 Remonstrance 3
              Remonstrance 4                Remonstrance 5                 Remonstrance 6
              Remonstrance 7                Remonstrance 8                 Remonstrance 9

I will be posting a methodical introduction to the concept of remonstrance in a few days, but let's start this series of posts about a very important topic with the best example of "focused critique" in Western literature. King Lear is a major role on the stage, and experienced actors understand that a peculiar kind of "pacing" is required of them. There is so much drama in Act 1, Scene 1, that lesser actors howl with fury at the court official, Kent (see below), only to have spent their thespian rage by the time the deepest of the later scenes take place.

[b] Cordelia

You see, King Lear has the idea that he can divide his kingdom between his daughters and their new husbands, shuttling back and forth between their mini-kingdoms in a kind of royal semi-retirement (keeping a hundred knights in tow). All he asks is for his daughters to tell them how much they adore him. Two do so in fawning terms, but the young'un (the little apple of Lear's eye) decides to be honest. Cordelia tells Lear that she loves him according to their bond—as a daughter to a father.  When she marries, she says, she will bring half her love to her husband.

[c] Kent remonstrates

Honesty is a dangerous policy.  Lear doesn't like it, and flies into a rage (read the rest of the first scene for the brilliant depiction of the daughters hovering between the realms of truth and deception). As we enter the part of the scene I have quoted (I,i 108-181), Lear has decided to cut off Cordelia from her inheritance. His trusted adviser, Kent, cannot believe what he is hearing, and decides to speak up. That is the very heart of the idea of remonstrance. The junior person in a hierarchy speaks up against the senior's actions. Lear is "senior" and Kent is "junior." That is what remonstrance is all about. The critique comes from the bottom up, often in a last-ditch effort to save a tottering kingdom (or almost-lost mind, as Kent notes, below).

I will have much more to write about this often-forgotten but absolutely critical concept in the coming weeks.  As I like to do with "first posts" on a major theme, though, the scene will do most of the speaking for itself.  I have put Kent's words in bold type to emphasize their significance in one of the best scenes in one of the best plays by the best dramatist in English literature.  Remonstrance.  Think about these lines, in particular (the heart of the remonstrance ideal). The dutiful must speak when a leader acts rashly, endangering the very state itself. That is remonstrance.

                           Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,

                           When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor's bound,

                           When majesty stoops to folly.

And exile (or worse) is the price to pay for words that go unheeded.

Watch it first or last—but watch it and read it.  The "public access" options are limited, but I am almost always surprised by the slightly different "reads" of the situation when acted...anytime, anywhere.

King Lear I, i (partial) 10:57

[d] Citizen Lear

King Lear

Act 1, Scene 1

[Regan and Goneril fawn; Cordelia tells the truth;

"Why have my sisters husbands if they say they love

you all?" This makes Lear very unhappy, and he says so.]

KING LEAR

Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:

For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,

The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;             110

By all the operation of the orbs

From whom we do exist, and cease to be;

Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

Propinquity and property of blood,

And as a stranger to my heart and me

Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,

Or he that makes his generation messes

To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom

Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,

As thou my sometime daughter.                        120

KENT

Good my liege,—

KING LEAR

Peace, Kent!

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

I loved her most, and thought to set my rest

On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!

So be my grave my peace, as here I give

Her father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?

Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,

With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:

Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.

I do invest you jointly with my power,                           130

Pre-eminence, and all the large effects

That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,

With reservation of an hundred knights,

By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode

Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain

The name, and all the additions to a king;

The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,

Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,

This coronet part betwixt you.

Giving the crown

[e] Focused Lear

KENT

Royal Lear,                                                           140

Whom I have ever honored as my king,

Loved as my father, as my master followed,

As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—

KING LEAR

The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.

KENT

Let it fall rather, though the fork invade

The region of my heart. Be Kent unmannerly

When Lear is mad. What wilt thou do, old man?

Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,

When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor's bound,

When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;

And, in thy best consideration, check                 150

This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgment,

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,

Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds

Reverb no hollowness.

KING LEAR

Kent, on thy life, no more!

KENT

My life I never held but as a pawn

To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it,

Thy safety being the motive.

KING LEAR

Out of my sight!

KENT

See better, Lear; and let me still remain

The true blank of thine eye.

KING LEAR

Now, by Apollo,--

KENT

Now, by Apollo, king,

Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.                        160

KING LEAR

O, vassal! miscreant!

Laying his hand on his sword

ALBANY CORNWALL

[f] Lear Beginnings

Dear sir, forbear.

KENT

Do:

Kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow

Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy gift;

Or, whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,

I'll tell thee thou dost evil.

KING LEAR

Hear me, recreant!

On thine allegiance, hear me!

Since though has sought to make us break our vow,

Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,

Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride

To come between our sentence and our power,          170

Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,

Our potency made good, take thy reward.

Five days we do allot thee, for provision

To shield thee from diseases of the world;

And on the sixth to turn thy hated back

Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,

Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,

The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,

This shall not be revoked.

KENT

Fare thee well, king. Sith thus thou wilt appear,   180

Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.