| Tetzlaff on violin concerto |
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| Written by Kevin Filpski | |
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  Tetzlaff also demonstrates his affinity for the 19th century romantic-era repertoire with a new Virgin Classics recording of Violin Concertos by Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim, performed with conductor Thomas Dausgaard and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The violinist spoke to TimesSquare.com while taking a break from a European tour. ******************** KF: Berg’s Violin Concerto is prominent in your repertoire. What about this special work speaks to you directly? Tetzlaff: Simply put, it’s one of the most rewarding pieces for a violinist to play. Violin concerti go into many different directions, from the deepest and darkest to the most blissful and beautiful, and Berg has put all of that into one piece. It’s as much a huge Mahler symphony as it is a violin concerto, and it demands a strong, unmistakably emotional expression from the performer. KF: Is it difficult to translate the emotion on the pages of the score into what we hear onstage? Tetzlaff: I cannot recall any concert where I did not absolutely “get into” this concerto. In a way, it is such easy and clear music to play; everything Berg wrote down makes such perfect sense to the performer that it really draws you into the piece, no matter what your situation was in your life just the day or even the hour before. For example, what’s wonderful about the end of the concerto is that it seems to have many different meanings to different listeners, depending on how they are listening. For me, it has a simple but powerful message: that even though the most terrible things do happen to us and those we love, our memories of those people who touched our soul are precious. So Berg is able to touch on both great loss and the absolute beauty of life. KF: How do you feel performing with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra? Tetzlaff: It’s wonderful. We play together often, I am happy to say. My last time playing in St. Louis with him and his fantastic orchestra was when we recently performed Karol Szymanowski’s First Concerto (from 1916), another amazing, almost unknown concerto. It’s quite incredible how the beginning of the 20th century was just fantastic for violinists. I don’t want to sound like I’m judging this orchestra, which would be funny in a way, but I must say that the engagement of the players throughout the whole orchestra with the music is miraculous, radiating from the first desk of violinists and other string players out through the rest of the orchestra. That is absolutely necessary for this music to make its full impact on listeners. KF: Why did you pair the concertos of Brahms and Joachim for your new CD? Tetzlaff: Putting these concerti together is a rather obvious move. Each work is dedicated to the other person and, musically, the two men grew together. Brahms and Joachim were close from the time Brahms was 18 to the end of his life; Joachim was a very influential person musically to Brahms, not just through his fantastic violin playing, but also his compositions. Every week, they sent each other fugues that they wrote for comments, and there are close connections between their compositions. For example, one of the most important connections that you can hear on this recording is their mutual love for Hungarian music, which comes through in the last movement of the Brahms concerto and then throughout the entire Joachim concerto. |
