Piano Concerto no 3 in E-flat major, opus 75 – Tchaikovsky
by richibi
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if I’m including Tchaikovsky’s Third,
and last, Piano Concerto in my survey,
it’s not because of its excellence, it is,
indeed, severely flawed, but because
I am a completist – if I’m visiting the
Cologne Cathedral, ergo, for instance,
I’ll make my way to the very top,
however treacherous might be the
stairs, the gargoyles being worth it,
not to mention the view
first of all, it’s incomplete, Tchaikovsky
died before finishing it, you can’t blame
him for that, though he was, curiously,
complicit in his own demise, but I don’t
believe this composition and his death
are that intimately interrelated
it has only one movement, but has
nevertheless been termed a concerto
on the, debatably unsound, strength
of its intention
briefly, and this is my opinion, the
movement has no lyrical moment,
no melting melody to float you out
of the recital hall as you exit,
nothing to hum, nor to whistle as
you wistfully wend your way back
home, nothing to remember but
flash, braggadocio, bombast,
expert fingers strutting their
dazzling, even, stuff, style over
substance, I venture, won’t be
enough to whisk you into the
following centuries
Chopin, the other towering Romantic
figure standing between the spiritual
bookends of Beethoven and Brahms,
wrote two piano concertos, of which
his Second suffers from, essentially,
not being his First, however mighty
his Second here, for instance,
proves to be in this utterly convincing
performance, watch, wow
Beethoven, in other words, wrote the
book, two works, Tchaikovsky’s First
and Chopin’s First, tower above his
in the public imagination during the
ensuing High Romantic Period, after
which Brahms closes the door on the
era with his two powerful masterpieces
for piano and orchestra
of which more later
there are other piano concertos
along the way, but Beethoven’s
five, Tchaikovsky’s and Chopin’s
one each, and Brahms two are
the basics – but let me add, upon
further consideration, and for a
a perfect ten options, Liszt, his
own, of two, First Piano Concerto –
what you need to consider yourself
comfortably aware of the essentials
of music in the 19th Century, the
culture’s predominant voice then,
until art, painting, took over as the
Zeitgeist‘s most expressive medium
with Impressionism
of which more later
R ! chard
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