Beethoven and Beyond

Recorded either side of her 20th birthday, María Dueñas’ performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto—her debut recording—is an astonishing accomplishment. The Spanish violinist’s tone is sweet, almost harking back to a golden era of ’50s technicolour richness, while her execution of Beethoven’s technically challenging, long-limbed phrases, particularly in the soaring second movement and the dancing third, is one of the most artless and beguiling on record. It’s a joy, too, to hear Dueñas’ own cadenzas in all three movements, each bursting with invention and teasing the ear with playful nods to Beethoven’s principal themes. “Writing my own cadenzas for the Concerto was an interesting process,” Dueñas tells Apple Music Classical, “because I also discovered the work from a different perspective. I really got to analyse the piece in a deep sense and discovered so many hidden nuances.” But as the title of her album suggests, there’s so much more to it than the Concerto itself. Dueñas follows in a long line of composers who have written established cadenzas for soloists to show off their technical prowess, and the final five tracks give listeners a chance to compare and contrast the very best of these by Spohr, Ysaÿe, Kreisler, Saint-Saëns and Wieniawski. “This album shows how various composers have understood Beethoven’s Violin Concerto differently over the years,” adds Dueñas, who also performs a piece by each composer including Ysaÿe’s breathtaking “Berceuse” and Kreisler’s charming, nostalgic “Liebesleid”. Read on as María Dueñas takes us through each of the tracks on Beethoven and Beyond. Violin Concerto (Beethoven) “The Beethoven Violin Concerto is a work in which you can show your virtuosity, but you also have to show more mature, inner feelings. In the first movement there is this special G minor passage, which I think displays a deep sense of pain and suffering. The second movement reminds me of a conversation with yourself, also maybe with God. And on the other side, we have the third movement, a dance that shows a very young side to the soloist. The Concerto features very deep human emotions, which often cannot be spoken.” Symphonie Concertante (Spohr) “I recorded the second movement of Spohr’s Symphonie Concertante for violin, orchestra and harp, a combination of instruments I’ve never done before. The violin and the harp are very similar—in my opinion they’re very close to the human voice. It was interesting for me to discover all the colours one could get from this ensemble.” Berceuse (Ysaÿe) “Ysaÿe’s ‘Berceuse’ is one of the hidden gems of the violin repertoire and deserves to be played more often. It shows the melancholy side of the violin—as the name suggests, the piece is a lullaby, but it’s a very sad one. There’s a quotation in the score that says, ‘The poor child fell sadly asleep’, and you can really feel the pain in the music.” Havanaise (Saint-Saëns) “Saint-Saëns’ Havanaise is based on the Cuban habanera dance and is influenced by the most famous habanera melody in all classical music—the one from Bizet’s opera Carmen. Saint-Saëns was, like many other French composers, inspired by the warm sounds of the South. As a Spanish violinist, it’s interesting for me to play this piece, because Saint-Saëns was also greatly inspired by the composer and violinist Pablo de Sarasate.” Légende (Wieniawski) “Wieniawski wanted to marry Isabella Hampton but her parents didn’t approve as they thought it wouldn’t be wise to marry a composer who was travelling all the time. Like other virtuosos of the period, Wieniawski composed a lot of music for his own use, so he played the Légende in a concert when Isabella’s parents were in the audience. As soon as they heard the piece, they changed their mind, and approved the marriage.” Liebesleid (Kreisler) “‘Liebesleid’ is one of Fritz Kreisler’s 3 Old Viennese Dances. It’s an interesting combination of melancholy and sorrow, but also a portrait of old Vienna with its sentimental and nostalgic feel. For me, ‘Liebesleid’ also has a romantic side, which might help a lover to smile through their tears.” Cadenzas for the first movement of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Spohr, Ysaÿe, Saint-Saëns, Wieniawski & Kreisler) “Now we come to the five cadenzas for the Beethoven Violin Concerto—it’s interesting to see how all these composers have different insights into the piece. The first is by Spohr and sounds a little like Mozart. Then we have a big contrast in the Ysaÿe cadenza, which is technically demanding. We also have a cadenza from Saint-Saëns, which is the only one not written by a violinist. Next we turn to the cadenza by Wieniawski, which is, I would say, the most virtuosic, and to finish, we have the most famous and the most-played one, by Fritz Kreisler. It was challenging to find my own interpretation of this cadenza, as it’s been played so many times. I wanted to give something personal to it—some new nuances and colours.”