Eduard Lassen

[edurban]

It's terrific...and very effective for the soloist.  The outdoor acoustic takes some getting used to...but push on, it's worth the effort!

[Alan Howe]

Spot-on! Listen through the dead outdoor acoustic and you'll find a VC to die for...

[jerfilm]

If you download from YouTube and have an audio editor like Audacity, try adding a bit of reverb......

Jerry

[Richard Moss]

Just been listening to the Lassen VC - what a find!  Thought the soloist v good, especially in the upper registers.  Orchestra OK but I've not got an expert's ear.

BTW, the split between movements I & II is at 13'27/28.  Even if Hyperion, CPO or whoever don't take this up, what we have is still, I think, a pure joy to listen to 'as is'.  This, Krogolski and a few others just by themselves warrant our hero administrators getting knighthoods or whatever for facilitating UC

CHEERS

Richard

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Jerry. I tried boosting reverb on Audacity from 50% to 80% (a pure guess) and the result was an extraordinary transformation. I'm much obliged.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Richard, also. The find, of course, was vicharris'. Wonderful!

[jerfilm]

I boosted to 95% with excellent results also.  Amazing.

And this concerto has to be close to a masterpiece......

Jerry

[eschiss1]

According to the info in the FLP/Fleisher catalog,
the movement names are
    Allegro moderato
    Andante cantabile
    Allegro risoluto e capriccioso.

It was dedicated "Herrn Concertmeister C. Halir in künstlerischer Verehrung freundschaftlichst gewidmet".
Orchestration in shorthand is
so-vn, 2-fl, 1-pc, 2-ob, 2-cl, 2-bn, 4-hn, 2-tpt, 3-trb, tmp, str.
It was published in 1888 by Julius Hainauer of Breslau (in score, parts and reduction) as Lassen's opus 87.

I think it was premiered in late October/early November 1888, Halir violin, Bülow conducting, in Berlin at the 2nd Philharmonic-Concert (see Musikpädagogische Blatter, 12 November 1888 report.)

[Mark Thomas]

I'm on holiday at present, so I can't (yet) join in all the plaudits, but the reception everyone is giving Lassen's Violin Concerto really does whet one's appetite for those two symphonies.

[Alan Howe]

And this concerto has to be close to a masterpiece......

I'd say it absolutely is a masterpiece. Memorable, melodious, original, beautiful: what more could one want? If programmed regularly, this would be as popular as any of the standard repertoire VCs. It's a stunner from beginning to end.

[Simon]

Do we have any idea how Mr Vodička ended up playing that concerto? It would be nice to learn about his journey discovering Lassen's music. Good t know there are some daring violinists out there!

[Alan Howe]

That's a very good question. There's nothing on his website - as far as I can see.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'd say it absolutely is a masterpiece. Memorable, melodious, original, beautiful: what more could one want? If programmed regularly, this would be as popular as any of the standard repertoire VCs. It's a stunner from beginning to end.

I couldn't agree more. I have nothing to add to Alan's comments. My reaction was identical. It cries out to be programmed AND recorded.

[Alan Howe]

Do we have any idea how Mr Vodička ended up playing that concerto?

Well, I've been trying to piece together what information I can find (and translate!) from the festival programme information and various Google seaches...

The VC was in fact premiered in Dessau on 13th May 1888, with the composer conducting and the dedicatee, Karel Halír, as soloist. Halír was leader of the orchestra in Weimar at the time.

Recently the Spanish violinist Eduardo García Salas - who is currently resident in Prague doing his doctoral thesis on Karel Halír with the University of Madrid - found the first edition of the score (1888) in Munich and prepared a new edition for performance; he plays with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and is also a member of the Karel Halír Society of Vrchlabí (where Halír was born in 1859).

The soloist on the recording, Czech violinist Jiří Vodička, also plays with the Czech Philharmonic and teaches at the Prague Conservatory.

If anyone fancies contacting Mr Vodička, his email address is: info@jirivodicka.cz
...but it's getting rather late here and I'm a bit bleary-eyed.

[Alan Howe]

You can find Eduardo Garcia Salas' announcement of the (then) forthcoming performance by Jiří Vodička here: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9655-lassen-eduard
It reads:

Lassen has a wonderful violin concerto op.87.It will be performed again on 5.7.2015 with Jiri Vodicka and Janacek Filharmonie Ostrava.