Violin Concerto (Sibelius)

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The Violin Concerto in D minor, opus 47 by Jean Sibelius premiered in 1903 in Helsinki. Sibelius withheld this version from publication and made substantial revisions. The premiere performance was a disaster. Although the original version had good material, Sibelius deleted a lot of material that did not work. The new version premiered in 1905, in Berlin, with Richard Strauss conducting and Karl Halir as soloist (see the FMIC link). The work is dedicated to noted violinist Franz von Vecsey. The initial version was noticeably more demanding on the advanced skills of the soloist and was revived in the early 1990s on the BIS record label by violinist Leonidas Kavakos, with the permission of Sibelius' heirs. The revised version still requires a considerably high level of technical facility on the part of the soloist. Although the work has been described as having "broad and depressing" melodies, several brighter moments appear against what is essentially a dark melodic backdrop, and the inexorable force that propels the concerto's direction makes it irresistible.

Jascha Heifetz is generally considered to have resurrected the concerto, which he considered one of the great concertos in the violin repertoire^{[citation needed]}, in the 1930s. Nearly every widely-known concertizing violinist has performed it regularly since Heifetz's so-called resurrection.

The concerto is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.

Like most concertos, the work is in three movements:

Allegro moderato in D minor and in 2/2 time
Adagio di molto in B-flat major and in 4/4 time
Allegro, ma non tanto in D major and in 3/4 time

This is the only large-scale work for solo instrument and orchestra (concerto) that Sibelius wrote, though he composed several other pieces for orchestra and solo instrument, including the six Humoresques for violin and orchestra. One noteworthy feature of the work is the way in which an extended cadenza for the soloist takes on the role of the development section in the sonata form first movement. Donald Francis Tovey described the final movement as a "polonaise for polar bears." ^[1] Much of the violin writing is purely virtuosic, but even the most showy passages alternate with the melodic. This concerto is generally symphonic in scope, completely departing from the often lighter, "rhythmic" accompaniments of many other concertos. The solo violin and all sections of the orchestra have equal voice in the piece.

The first movement, marked Allegro moderato, opens with a cushion of pianissimo strings pulsating gently. The soloist then enters with a characteristic IV-V-I phrase, in D minor G-A-D. The violin announces the theme and is echoed by clarinet briefly, then continues into developmental material. More low woodwind and timpani accompany the soloist in several runs. Almost cadenza-like arpeggios and double-stops and more runs are accompanied by more woodwind restatements of the theme. The strings then enter brazenly for the first time, announcing a second theme. Developmental material leads to a cadenza which then opens into the recapitulation. The 'Allegro Molto Vivace' coda ends with restatements of past themes.

Although this movement is mainly melodic, it is still largely virtuosic. Particularly difficult passages include one where the performer must play and maintain a trill with the 1st and 2nd finger, while playing a second moving line on the next-lower string, with the 3rd and 1st fingers. Additionally, nearly the entire end is made up of octave double-stops, which poses a challenge to many players. Other challenges of this movement include very quick slides from first to seventh position (and sometimes across strings), broken chords played at very fast tempi, sixth double-stops that must be perfectly in tune for the effect to work, and glissandi with double-stops.

The second movement is very lyrical. A short introduction by the full orchestra leads into a singing solo part over pizzicato strings. Beautifully dissonant accompaniments by the brass dominate the first part of the song-like movement. The remarkable middle section has the solo violin playing ascending broken octaves, with the flute as the main voice of the accompaniment, playing descending notes simultaneously.

The third movement opens with rhythmic percussion and the lower strings for four bars (playing 'eighth note-sixteenth note-sixteenth note' figures), before the violin boldly enters with the first theme. This first section offers a complete display of violin gymnastics with up-bow staccato double-stops and a run with rapid string-crossing, then octaves, that leads into the first tutti. The second theme is taken up by the orchestra and is almost a waltz, and the violin takes up the same theme in variations, with arpeggios and double-stops. Another very difficult semi-cadenza full of double-stops and runs returns the first theme to the violin, but is interrupted by more runs. Another orchestral interlude involves the violin as accompanist, as the solo part takes up a passage of harmonics. This precedes a sardonic passage of chords. Broken octaves and more challenging material keep the soloist busy while the orchestra takes care of the rising action. The violin leads to the finish by playing a D major scale up, returning down in B-flat, then doing it one more time before a flourish of ascending sixteenth notes, punctuated by a resolute D from the orchestra.