DCLIV. STRAVINSKY, Igor: Violin Concerto

DCLIV. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

Violin Concerto (1931)
1. Toccata
2. Aria I
3. Aria II
4. Capriccio
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
Frankfurt Radio Symphony
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, cond.
(23:28)

Stravinsky needed a violinist to help avoid the pitfalls of writing unplayable material. The Polish-American Samuel Dushkin turned out to be the ticket.

One day, the two musicians were sitting in a Parisian restaurant, and Stravinsky took out a piece of paper and wrote down this chord

and asked Dushkin if it could be played. The violinist replied that he had never seen such a chord with such an enormous stretch from the E to the top A, and said, "No."

Stravinsky said sadly, "Quel dommage."

When Dushkin returned home, he tried it, and to his astonishment found that the stretch of the 11th (E to A) was relatively easy to play.

"When the Concerto was finished, more than six months later, I understood his disappointment when I first said 'No.' This chord, in a different dress, begins each of the four movements."

Stravinsky himself calls the chord his "passport" to the Concerto.

First movement

Second movement

Third movement

Fourth movement