Chopin, "Military" Polonaise in A major

The first work composed by Frédérik Chopin was a polonaise. He was seven years old. Then would come six more "youthful" ones, until 1829, shortly before leaving Warsaw. By that time, the city was occupied by the Russians but was not yet suffering the harsh repression of 1830-31, the result of the frustrated Polish uprising of November 1830. However, in these early works, the Polish musician does not attach any patriotic value to his polonaises, for he composes them according to tradition: Chopin writes polonaises simply because the dance is fashionable.

The origins
Of course, the dance originated in Poland, but by Chopin's time, it had become a conventional dance known throughout Europe for two centuries. Already in the early baroque period, numerous composers had written "Polish dances" or, as the French liked to call them, "polonaises". But by the 19th century it had lost its character of danceable dance to become an instrumental piece with its own characteristics: ternary metre, neither too slow nor too fast, and with a unique rhythmic pattern that Chopin surely knew how to model according to the atmosphere.

Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Chopin in exile
Chopin was an exile, a Polish exile, and with this in mind he developed his existence in Paris. His also exiled compatriots, nobles in their majority, would celebrate the magnificence of his mature polonaises, seeing in them a symbol of Polish nationalism. Some of them evoke drums, fanfare, and parade of troops, as is the case of the so-called "Military" Polonaise. But Chopin, in the end, only pretended to be a musician. Chopin's pain in the face of the invaded motherland is permeated with longing for his homeland, which is why he will ask for his heart to be taken back to Warsaw on the day of his death.

Military Polonaise Opus 40 N° 1
It was dedicated to his friend and countryman Julian Fontana and was completed in 1838, shortly before Chopin began a nine-year relationship with the writer George Sand. Along with the polonaise in C minor from the same period, both were published as Opus 40 in 1840.
In the group of mature polonaises, it is one of the most "traditional", in the sense that Chopin preserved in it untouched the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the old dance, although he chose an abrupt and surprising ending, in which all spectacularity is absent.

The rendition is by the Israeli pianist Tzvi Erez.

Torelli, Concerto for two violins

The dialogue between soloist and orchestra
The idea of a dialogue between an isolated soloist and a supporting orchestra was not so far from the composers' minds at the end of the 17th century. After all, this had already been happening in opera for more than a century, when singers began to act as a solo instrument in charge of a melody, accompanied by a more or less dense orchestra. The human voice, of course, has always been the same, or at least it has never required technological advances for its development. The same is not true of instruments.

Technological improvements
During that century, the quality of the violin made by Italian craftsmen had been enjoying substantial improvements by the Lombard families Amati, Guarneri, or Stradivari. Thanks to this, the concertino group instrumentalists were able to add to the virtuosic exercises allowed by the concerto grosso a quality of sound unknown until then, which will demand special attention. The appearance of the solo instrument was just a step away. Technological improvement and the idea of dialogue between instrument and orchestra brought by the opera will go hand in hand so that the musical world of the West will know a new transformation of the expressive medium: the concerto for solo instrument and orchestra.

Giusseppe Torelli (1658 - 1709)

Torelli
It is the Veronese Giuseppe Torelli who has entered history as the creator of the new form or, at least, the first to use it more openly. Despite the discovery, little is known about his beginnings as a musician – as well as about his last years. Born in Verona, Italy, in 1658, he left the city in the early 1680s to take up the post of maestro di capella at the Cathedral of Imola in Bologna shortly afterward. He would later travel through Germany and also visit Vienna, returning to Bologna in 1701 where he would assume a position in the newly reconstituted musical chapel of San Petronio.

12 Concerti grossi with a pastoral
Torelli called his orchestral pieces symphonies, sometimes sonatas, but also concertos. His Concerti musicali opus 6, from 1698, shows passages for solo violin, not very abundant, certainly, nor very outstanding, but enough to distinguish a soloist in comparison with the concertino group of the concerto grosso.
The disintegration of the concertino group would come somewhat later with the posthumous publication of his 12 Concerti grossi with a pastorale Opus 8, from 1709, in which a violin –or two, as the music evolves- confronts the rest of the orchestra with passages where he can feel free to take the initiative. From here onwards, all that remains is to wait for the virtuoso performers to appear.

Concerto for two violins Op. 8 No. 5
From the Opus 8 series, the Concerto No. 5 for two violins in G major is presented here, in a performance by the Croatian Baroque Ensemble. For our current idea of a concerto, the work is very short. It lasts barely eight minutes and follows the fast-slow-fast scheme of only three movements that Alessandro Scarlatti had just consecrated for his Italian overtures: Allegro - Andante - Allegro.

Ernesto Lecuona, "Y la Negra Bailaba"

Ernesto Lecuona, the greatest composer the island of Cuba has ever given to the world, was at the height of his fame when his single song "Siempre en mi corazón" – part of the soundtrack of the eponymous film – was in close competition for an Oscar award for best song in 1942. He did not get it, but it mattered little to the author because his zarzuela Maria la O and the song Siboney had been applauded all over the world for more than ten years.

A fruitful composer
However, such pieces, famous in their time, are a tiny part of the composer's output born in Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana, in 1895. The versatile and prolific creator of Malagueña is the author of about 400 songs, 37 orchestral works, eleven movie soundtracks, numerous zarzuelas, ballets, and even an opera. To all this must also be added more than 170 pieces for solo piano.

Ernesto Lecuona (1895 - 1963)

The native music

This last sphere is where Lecuona stands out to this day with vernacular brilliance. Highly valued as an interpreter of Liszt, Chopin, or Gershwin, the Cuban composer brought Afro-Cuban rhythms to the concert hall that were absent from the traditional stages until the end of the 19th century. Following in the footsteps of Ignacio Cervantes and others, Lecuona made it possible for local motifs and rhythms to occupy a space of their own, signaling with his work that Cuba and its music were also beyond the walls of Havana's elegant salons.

"Y la Negra Bailaba!"

The production of piano pieces occupied Lecuona mainly in the 1920s and 1930s. From those years are the eternal Comparsa and the unsurpassable rhythmic gem "¡Y la Negra Bailaba!"

The latter is presented here in a rendition by Cuban maestro Gabriel Urgell Reyes. It begins with two bars in charge of the left hand only, a common feature of many of Lecuona's piano pieces, a hallmark that, in a recital, allowed them to be immediately identified.

Salieri, Piano Concerto in C major

Better known today for the musical personalities with whom he was associated than for himself, the Italian musician Antonio Salieri nevertheless enjoyed wide recognition as a conductor and opera composer in Vienna and Paris during the 1770s and 1780s.

Of course, none of this was picked up by the 1984 film Amadeus, which, according to legend, decided to feature him as Mozart's alleged poisoner, albeit in a comedy tone.
The truth is that among the many illustrious pupils Salieri took in – Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Czerny –, there was one by the name of Franz Xavier Mozart, a son of Wolfgang Amadeus.
Then as now, no one is taught by someone who has poisoned his father.

Early years
Born in Legnago, today in the province of Verona, Italy, in 1750, Antonio Salieri received his first lessons from his older brother, and at the age of 18 he composed his first opera, La Vestale, now lost and probably not a major success.
But he recovered in 1771 with Armida, which for the 21-year-old Antonio Salieri was a great step forward, since it secured him a prominent position among the musical circles of Vienna, where he had arrived in 1766, under the guidance of Florian Gassmann, the court composer.

Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825)

A prominent figure
Upon Gassmann's death in 1774, he assumed his position as well as that of director of the city's Italian Opera Company. This was followed by an increasingly successful career in Milan, Venice, and Paris. From then until 1790 Salieri would live his best years; he is one of the most prominent figures in musical Europe and occupies a social position that none of his talented contemporaries, including Mozart, could ever attain. There was, therefore, no need to poison anyone.

Piano Concerto in C major
Primarily a composer of operas, Antonio Salieri wrote a modest number of instrumental works. These include two piano concertos. The C Major Concerto, composed in 1773, is presented here.
Gallant in style, its movements are:

00        Allegro maestoso
08:58  Larguetto
16:00  Andantino

The rendition is by South Korean pianist Heeguin Kim, accompanied by the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Yongho Choi.

Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto No 1

One of the few romantic musicians born in a golden cradle, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy received from his banker father in 1829 a gift that any artist of the 19th century – and of any other century – would have eagerly envied. The twenty-year-old had already shown enough signs of talent so his father thought it appropriate for him to fulfill the dream of every artist of the time, to travel to Italy. And since the family's financial well-being could afford a little more, Mendelssohn Sr. financed Felix's travels all over Europe, back and forth, for three years.

On the way

The first visit was to England, where he conducted his own works, gaining the total admiration of the English. Then, it was Scotland, where he will take inspiration for his Scottish Symphony. In 1830, after spending a few months in different cities of Austria, he arrived in Venice on October 9. After a brief but intense visit to Florence, he jumped to Rome, where he settled for several months, meeting Hector Berlioz who was there enjoying his Grand Prix de Rome scholarship. They did not become close friends, but Mendelssohn would later invite Berlioz to conduct the Symphonie Fantastique in Leipzig.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
(1809 - 1847)

On his return

After a short visit to Naples and Pompeii in the company of friends, he will be on his way back in 1831. On his way to Switzerland, he crossed Italy again, visiting Florence, Genoa, and Milan.

Mendelssohn had been working on his first piano concerto since the previous year. So, besides exercising on the way his extraordinary gifts for painting, he took the opportunity to premiere the concerto, with him at the piano, during a short stay in Munich.

In the middle of December, he was settled in Paris. There he met Chopin and Liszt. With the first one he will become a great friend. As for the second, he will be pleasantly surprised when he witnesses the reading at first sight that the Hungarian master will make of his First Piano Concerto. 

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in G minor

With very short dimensions, less than 20 minutes, the concerto was premiered in Munich in a benefit concert on October 17, 1831, with great success. However, it was Liszt who later, in Paris, made it truly famous. 

It is organized in the traditional manner, fast-slow-fast movements, which follow one after the other without pause.

Movements: 

00 Molto allegro con fuoco. A very fast and fierce movement. A fanfare (small brass section) at 6:35 precedes the andante, without pause.

6:50 Andante. In total contrast to the first movement, its tenderness becomes almost melancholy. With the four simple chords that end the movement, Yuja Wang takes the opportunity to show off his poise by brilliantly and astonishingly naturally achieving the piano's diminution in volume from piano to pianissimo.

12:18 Presto - Molto allegro vivace. It is also introduced by a fanfare, clearly reminiscent of the famous motif of the Fifth Symphony, three short notes and a long one. It is an exuberant, enthusiastic and lively rondo.

Yuja Wang is accompanied by the Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by the German maestro Kurt Mazur.