Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme
Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme
The Gramophone Choice
Coupled with Nocturne, Op 19 No 4. Pezzo capriccioso, Op 62. When Jesus Christ was but a child, Op 54 No 5. Was I not a little blade of grass?, Op 47 No 7. Andante cantabile, Op 11
Raphael Wallfisch vc English Chamber Orchestra / Geoffrey Simon
Chandos CHAN8347 (48' · DDD) Buy from Amazon
This account of the Rococo Variations is the one to have: it presents Tchaikovsky’s variations as he wrote them, in the order he devised, and including the allegretto moderato con anima that the work’s first interpreter, ‘loathsome Fitzenhagen’, so high-handedly jettisoned. The first advantage is as great as the second: how necessary the brief cadenza and the andante that it introduces now seem, as an up-beat to the central sequence of quick variations (Fitzenhagen moved both cadenza and andante to the end). And the other, shorter cadenza now makes a satisfying transition from that sequence to the balancing andante sostenuto, from which the long-suppressed eighth variation is an obvious build-up to the coda – why, the piece has a form, after all! Raphael Wallfisch’s fine performance keeps the qualifying adjective ‘rococo’ in mind – it isn’t indulgently over-romantic – but it has warmth and beauty of tone in abundance. The shorter pieces are well worth having: the baritone voice of the cello suits the Andante cantabile and the Tatyana-like melody of the Nocturne surprisingly aptly. The sound is first-class.
