Brahms' "3rd PC"?

[Alan Howe]

I think the key issue will be whether the sense of struggle inherent in the VC will have been diminished in its new incarnation. If so, the effect may be an interesting damp squib...

[Mark Thomas]

I agree, but I expect that I'll be paying to answer the question 

[Mark Thomas]

It gets a generally approving review in this month's Gramophone.

[Alan Howe]

BBC radio's CD Review got it about right the other week: the problem with this transcription is that the piano-writing is simply not Brahmsian - it's nothing like awkward enough and gives no sense of the sort of struggle found in Brahms' true PCs. In fact it's nearer to the sort of thing Rachmaninov might have come up. So the effect is to replace the difficulty and strain which the VC poses the violinist with much more grateful piano-writing. The result is to neuter the piece somewhat. It's clever - but it's not Brahms.

[chill319]

This is an idea that is in the air. Steven Hough mentioned this evening that he is toying with the idea of making a PC out of Tchaikovsky's VC.

[Alan Howe]

With all that genuine unrecorded and unperformed piano repertoire out there, why do we need these second-rate transcriptions? Is this more about the transcribers' egos than about the music they're mauling?

[TerraEpon]

It's also cheaper and easier. If you just transcribe the piano, you can simply use the same orchestra accompaniment that's both probably pretty cheap to rent (or the orchestra has in their library), as well as music the orchestra knows well so there's less rehearsal time needed, etc etc

I like transcriptions, personally, and certainly don't see how it's "mauling" the music.

[Alan Howe]

"Mauling" might be too strong. But in the case of the Brahms VC transcription, the work simply becomes too comfortable - like a lion tamed. In my view the work should be like a beast which needs taming rather than a toothless, attractive pet. Perhaps I should have said that this particular transcription is no longer capable of mauling the performers!!

[Gareth Vaughan]

With all that genuine unrecorded and unperformed piano repertoire out there, why do we need these second-rate transcriptions?

I couldn't agree more. This is the height of decadent self-indulgence in music making. What is the point of it?
I really despair sometimes.

[JimL]

Anybody heard the trumpet transcription of the Tchaikovsky VC?  I forget who did it, but I've heard it.

[chill319]

This may sound glib, but I don't mean it to, because Gareth's comment resonates for me...

In a world where "gender reassignment" happens every week, instrument reassignment is just plain going to happen, whether by the Swingle Singers, Wendy Carlos, or trumpet virtuosi whom Tchaikovsky didn't happen to write for.

Homo ludens will always find ways to metamorphose existing surfaces. The element of play that makes possible a recast of Tchaikovsky's VC also makes possible the development of technologies such as the ones that make almost all discussion on this forum possible.

One of our roles is to help attach the ephemeral to something with a longer shelf life. To me, as I dare say to other members of this forum, the shelf life of western art music over the last few centuries ranks up there near the top along with 5th-century BC Athenian drama and geometry or Renaissance art (perspective) and algebra.

[TerraEpon]

Anybody heard the trumpet transcription of the Tchaikovsky VC?  I forget who did it, but I've heard it.

Was it Sergei Nakariakov?

I've never heard it. But I love the clarinet transcription of the Beethoven VC...

[Marcus]

Schumann's String Quartets no1 op41 & no3 op41 have been transcribed for string orchestra by Jean-Philippe Tremblay, and released on Naxos (#8.570133).
I was initially hesitant to buy this disc, but I was glad that I did, as it gives the quartets another dimension, and when  transcriptions are done as well as this, I am happy to outlay the cash. But I doubt if I would bother with the Trumpet version of Tchaikowsky's VC JimL ! You would have to be a trumpet music lover I think, just as you would have to be a DBass fan to buy the Grieg Sonata transcription.
Marcus

[Jonathan]

The Brahms "3rd" got a critical mauling in International Piano this month...

[Peter1953]

I've just heard the 2nd movement, broadcast on (Dutch) Radio 4. It gave me a strange feeling. The immense tension given by the solo violin in the original concerto has completely vanished. The piano writing is not bad at all, but it isn't Brahmsian. Having said that, I confess that I'm going to order the CD...