TCHAIKOVSKY, Pyotr Il'yich

Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major op. 35 (violin and piano reduction)

I. Allegro moderato - Moderato assai

Miriam Fried, guest professor

Elvin Hoxha Ganiyev, student

Vadim Gladkov, accompanying pianist

At the beginning, Miriam Fried congratulates de student for his performance and gives some ideas to think about them: Tchaikovsky is the composer of ballet and splendid melodies and the influence of the dance can be found in this concerto. All ballets are based on different steps and the contact with the floor. In this case, the student is stuck to the ground.
Other aspect is the tempo: it is decided in relation to the expression and character of the music. If we have a harmonic rhythm, we need more time to assimilate all the changes; on the contrary, more activity requires a quicker tempo. All the fluctuations if the tempo should be justified musically. In the main theme, afterwards the initial cadenza, we should be climbing steps and enjoying while climbing them.
Playing with the orchestra is also important: it is a big machine which requires to be heard. We have to study the moments in which we have more freedom, so the general score must be learnt.
Fried also talks about the relation between figuration and emotion and gives a wide explanation about the use of the bow, to be used in a more descriptive way. The process would be: decoding and understanding what the composer means, then making and building a personal idea and finally, choosing the tools which will help us to express our idea.
They work on the main theme and the transition to the second one and later, Fried encourages the student to play with more risk to transmit what we have in mind, looking for the real meaning of the music and the best way to express.

Language: English