>> From The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. ^M00:00:03 ^M00:00:18 >> Good afternoon, I'm Taru Spiegel from the Library's European Division and welcome to this program about Jean Sibelius and Fritz Kreisler. And many thanks to the Embassy of Finland, Keijo Karjalainen and the Library's Music Division, Anne McClain, David Plylar [phonetic] and Jen Loritson [phonetic] for making the event possible. Also the great technical staff who makes us look professional, thank goodness. We're happy to have Jani Lehtonen and Jani Aarrevaara as our speakers today. And, let me tell you, it was very, very hard to get 2 speakers with the same first name [laughter], but we managed. And we also get extra points because the names Jani and Jean, as in Jean Sibelius are related. As you know, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius, whose actual birthday was yesterday. And we're glad to remember this great Finnish composer and also to highlight one of the Library's treasures, the original manuscript of the Fritz Kreisler piano arrangement of Sibelius's lovely violin concerto "Opus 47 D Minor". And the treasure is right there, being guarded by David. And why and when this Kreisler reduction was made is a mystery that today's speakers will look into. Sibelius was born in Finland in 1865 and Kreisler in Austria, 10 years later. Both were extremely famous in their lifetime and are still well loved by audiences worldwide. Today's talk will focus on a lesser known conjunction of these superstars. I would like to mention that the Library's holdings include more than an thousand titles relating to Sibelius. Also, unique here, is the Fritz Kreisler collection which includes manuscripts, personal papers and correspondence. The music division serves materials for your music inquiries and the European Division would be the place to go to for various European language materials including Finnish material. Jani Lehtonen is first violinist of the Helsinki City Orchestra, Concertmaster of Joensuu City Orchestra as well as lead violin with the Philharmonic Entertainment Strings and a member in the prize-winning Arcadia Quartet. He studied at the Sibelius Academy and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Lehtonen's been a soloist with the Helsinki City Orchestra as well as the Aalborg and Odense Symphony Orchestras among others. In 2007, he received a special award at the XI Concorso Violino Citta di Brescia Competition. His sound recordings include Haydn, Kuchler, Segestrom and Kreisler. Jani Aarrevaara teaches piano on the faculty of the Tampere Music Conservatory. He graduated from [inaudible] Music Academy and received his concert diplome under the direction of Erik Apel [phonetic]. He has taught piano at various Finnish and German music institutions. One of Aarrevaara's awards led to a concert tour that included Carnegie Hall--a Carnegie Hall performance and his repertoire consists of chamber music and lead. And together the Janis published a Kreisler CD in 2012, they're working on another one that's looking for a publisher that features this Kreisler reduction. And they've done a lot of research on this material. We hope to see it published maybe one day. Finally, for the fun bit, please note that the event is being videotaped and please turn your cell phones off. So, I'll have a little talk here with Jani Lehtonen. So, Janie, what led you here to talk about Kreisler and Sibelius? >> When Jani Aarrevaara and I made our first joint recording of Fritz Kreisler's work for violin and piano, I learned a lot about Kreisler's life. Our CD published in 2012 contains a number of known, and less known, compositions created by this master violinist and composer during his remarkable career. When writing the booklet for the CD, [inaudible] excellent biography of Fritz Kreisler, "Love's Joy, Love's Sorrow" was a great help. It is possibly the most comprehensive work in this area. Biancolli's book ends with a complete listing of Kreisler's work made during his lifetime. Looking at this, my interest was sparked by the Sibelius violin concerto Opus 47 D Minor arrangement for piano and violin. >> So you had mentioned that this was a big surprise, this information about manuscript? >> Yes. The information about the Sibelius arrangement was so interesting for a Finnish violinist that I began to investigate where I could find the music material. The Biancolli's list of works stated only that this was an unpublished work held here at the U.S. Library of Congress. I spoke about the matter with some well-informed people in Finland, and it turned out that the Finnish National Radio Library had a copy of the Library of Congress manuscript which is over there on the table. I received a top duplicate copy from them [inaudible] library [inaudible]. At this stage, I still didn't know what to expect because Kreisler had made a number of published and, thus well-known, arrangement of violin concertos by different composers as well as other works whose structure he had completely changed. One can therefore rather speak about these as new compositions using someone else's technique. This, however, was not the case regarding the Sibelius violin concerto. Kreisler had kept the solo violin part unchanged, in other words, just as Sibelius had composed it, except for some very minor violinist details which may be considered editorial suggestions rather than actual changes. >> So when you found the manuscript copy, what was your next step? What did you decide to do? >> We decided to actually record the whole thing. It was so good that it would be nice for other people really hear that music. And, actually, the background music when you came in this hall was from the CD made by us last year. And we are now waiting for a publisher for this CD. >> So you did a considerable amount of research on the Kreisler reduction. >> Yeah. Despite our efforts, we have been unable to find any written references about the Kreisler piano reduction of the Sibelius violin concert, so all the conclusions about this version are our own. Why Fritz Kreisler made his own piano reduction of the Sibelius concerto remains a great mystery so far, especially since Sibelius also made his own reduction of the piece in 1905. Also the date of the Kreisler reduction is unknown. Future research may clarify if Jean Sibelius had time to work the violin and orchestra concerto into his 1905 arrangement for piano and violin before Kreisler made his own version. Did Fritz Kreisler and Jean Sibelius ever meet? Both are historic superstars in their day and were only 10 years apart in age. As far as we know, Kreisler visited Finland twice and, thus, a meeting would have been possible. Did Sibelius know about Kreisler's piano reduction and did Kreisler have the composer's permission? We don't know. From the point of view of research into the recent history of music, it would be most enlightening to find answers to these questions. >> Okay, I have just a little aside. I was reading a little bit about Kreisler and I'm not sure if he got to Finland this time, but he was playing in Russia and met a Finnish girl and wanted to leave everything behind. This was when he was young and foolish, right? >> Okay. >> But he was persuaded to go back [laughter]. So, anyway, what do you think was the reason for the Kreisler reduction? >> Generally speaking, the events that revolutionized musical culture, radio and records, also radically changed music consumption habits. Before this breakthrough, it was only possible to enjoy live music. This meant that mostly only the upper classes were able to pursue music at the high level. It has also largely affected how music was published. For instance, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy secured a contract from his publisher for the famous E Minor Concerto for Violin and Orchestra only on condition that he also prepare a piano reduction based on the orchestration as soon as possible. In other words, classical music in its own time was first and foremost consumer music. It was performed not just at actual concerts, but at home in silence and for festive occasions often with a reduced configuration not least because of the various more number of orchestras. ^M00:10:45 >> So about a hundred years ago, you and Jani Aarrevaara would have been playing this piece at home for your friends and family or at some local event? >> Correct. >> Yeah? >> In times past, recital concerts were far more common than today. The artist would either play or sing most often to piano accompaniment. This seems strange to us today because we are used to hearing live performances for solo instruments or orchestras only as a part of a concert. Even until the Second World War, it was usual for violin recitals to feature a violin concerto with piano accompaniment in addition to music similarly configured for the program. During Fritz Kreisler's career, this was not at all uncommon. The fact that he created a reduction for the Sibelius violin concerto definitively indicates that the work made a significant impression on him because a reduction requires a lot of work and time. And I can show you, it is really a huge amount of work. These are our copies of the original manuscript which you can look at on the table. It's 39 pages handwrited music. It's really great job he has done so I would say it takes at least weeks just to write this whole thing. But he also made this great work of arranging the whole concerto again from the big orchestral score for piano score. >> So was the Sibelius concerto well-known when Sibelius composed it in 1904, right? >> Yeah. I would say yes and no because the first time it was performed in Helsinki, the first version, it wasn't very successful thing. And, afterwards, Sibelius made huge corrections for his violin concerto. And this is a revised version we nowadays know and hear soloists playing. And this Kreisler's work is also based on this revised Sibelius violin concerto. And but it wasn't very famous before Jascha Heifetz recorded it. But, afterwards, it has been maybe the most successful violin concerto ever composed. And nowadays, the amount of recordings is over 60 recordings of Sibelius violin concerto so it means that it is most recorded violin concerto ever composed on 20th century. >> So, Jascha Heifetz made this known in the '30s, right? >> Yes, I think so. It was in the '30s. >> So, it wasn't really such a super, super, super hit when Kreisler did the reduction, so. >> No, no, that's right. >> So, any conclusions about the Kreisler reduction? >> I would say that, like I said before, he was a really great affected about Sibelius music. And we have to remember that he was extremely gifted person as a violinist, but also as a composer. When he got the place from Vienna Conservatory at 7 years old, his first teacher was Anton Bruckner really. And composing was also main part on his studies. And he was remarkably talented to produce music by heart and also arrange other composers' works for his own instrument especially. But he was also really good pianist. So that's why this reduction for Sibelius concerto is really interesting. And I would say it's a real treasure for violinists, pianists and also music lovers all over the world. >> So the quality is good, you said, yeah, yeah. >> Yes, it's, it's brilliant. >> Yeah. >> So, as was mentioned before, Sibelius also created an arrangement of this concerto so what are the differences? >> I think we could ask this from other Jani now, he has some kind of show so. >> Should I start with the show? >> Yeah. >> Okay. ^M00:16:30 ^M00:16:42 >> So, hello. Yes, in the following, I will present some notes on Kreisler's reduction in comparison with Sibelius's own reduction. I will also play some samples from our CD and some samples with the orchestra, a couple of samples. Apparently, there are at least 3 reductions of Sibelius's concerto, Sibelius's own reduction from 1905 like we just heard from the same time when he finished his second version, last version, of the concerto, a reduction by Alexandre Gretchaninoff, a Russian composer from 1942 which, according to Sibelius's secretary, Santeri Levas, was something Sibelius also liked. You can read one sentence of this, of this reduction in the biography by Santeri Levas, and the third one, the unpublished Fritz Kreisler's reduction. Compared to Sibelius, Kreisler uses the low bass register most sparingly throughout line. This is partly explained by the fact that Sibelius wanted to create an impression whereas Kreisler did not. What is this impression? This concerto is often considered as--or its orchestration is considered dark, that's true, ballads of fagatos, clarinets, violoncelle, double basses, timpani that Sibelius uses and the violins, for example, are playing quite low, not very often high positions. In the first--no I think this was the second critic in the U.S., the work was played first in New York and the second one was in Chicago in 1907, I think in New York one year earlier. The critic in "Chicago Daily Tribune" wrote, "this masterpiece is orchestrated in strange and dark colors". So this is something Sibelius wants to emphasize and, on the other hand, Kreisler does not want, perhaps. Maybe in his mind, there is a brighter sound that he wants from the piano. To some extent, Kreisler leaves out this dark mainly counteractive basses also contrary to the orchestral score. But these are just rare, rare examples. Here from the first movement, it's very clear to be seen, Sibelius version deep basses, counteractive basses, they don't actually exist. Fagatos, double basses and kettle drum play this one, what we see in Kreisler's reduction. Let's hear an example by, this is Frank Patecioman [phonetic] right? >> Yes, Helsinki [inaudible]. >> First example, just a moment. ^M00:20:36 [ Music ] ^M00:21:04 And then, from our CD. ^M00:21:07 [ Music ] ^M00:21:35 So, what did you think? What do you think? How do you find it? >> I pick yours. >> At least we--so in this Kreisler version, it was, there was same basses actually like in the original version. Some other examples from the third movement, same thing, Sibelius, deep basses, they do not exist in the orchestral score. And Kreisler uses the same basses like in the orchestral score. Another note, in his reduction, Kreisler has a thinner texture throughout the line which, in some cases, demonstrates a more pianistic approach. Here maybe the best example of the whole concerto also from the point of the pianistic approach, Kreisler uses--here Kreisler uses tremolo instead of chord triplets by Sibelius. These kind of chords are not very rewarding to play for a pianist. And, I think, Kreisler found here very elegant solution. Let's hear how it sounds. Think I have a technical problem. Escape, yeah, yeah. Sir? >> Try moving up the [inaudible]. >> Okay. Oh. ^M00:23:44 [ Music ] ^M00:24:15 Another example from the second movement, it's very easy to see the very thick texture in Sibelius's version, Kreisler, light texture. Or, from the third movement, again, quite unpianistic writing in Sibelius's version, Kreisler makes it easier for a pianist and, perhaps, this is also not necessary for the sound image. But we see, or hear, in Sibelius's version. There are also opposite examples of thicker or thinner texture. Kreisler, here, uses chords, at the same time, Sibelius just uses octaves so a thicker texture in Kreisler's reduction. And also here, at the end of the third movement, I think this gives--this is the end of the whole work, of course, this gives weight for the last pass of the work to my mind, maybe, gives more weight to--it gives more, it emphasizes the end better than the octaves in Sibelius's version. Kreisler has some individual simplifications compared to the score in rhythms, harmonies, or in leaving out the melodic line. The first sample, for example, from the first movement, this is the original one with the 16th note, in Kreisler's version, he leaves that away. It sounds like this. ^M00:26:21 [ Music ] ^M00:26:41 So here we were already at the end. Or in the first movement, there are some simplified harmonies Kreisler just leaves some harmonies away, but these are very rare examples in the whole work. And the first movement, I don't know if you can see something here, it's very small, but there are some slides on the paper. I hope you get to this room. Up here, there is a line, melodic line played by oboes, clarinets, fagatos, French horns, later here by trombones and trumpets. Kreisler just leaves it away. Couple of these kind of examples also in this reduction by Fritz Kreisler. And, again, on the other hand, there are places where Sibelius does not follow the score and Kreisler follows. In this example, the melody should be on the beat and it is the case in Kreisler's reduction. Sibelius, he, for some reason, considered it otherwise. In his reduction, Kreisler has several appropriations in the orchestra accompaniment which actually are the most significant changes to Sibelius's chord. Of course, if you leave something away like in this, maybe the most radical example, it does perhaps some harm for general form for the architecture of the work. But, on the other hand, and on the whole, Kreisler's appropriations to the orchestral score seem very natural and also are elegant solutions. Here we wrote the bass Kreisler leaves away, for example here, 10 bars, 2 bars here, this part consists of 76 bars. And here we just see 39 of them. So, there are 9 places, shortened by 37 bars all together. Let's hear how it sounds. ^M00:29:12 [ Music ] ^M00:30:01 And so on. Kreisler has some of his own additions and simplifications which support the sound image, such as in the first movement, he puts up, or moves up, the melody played actually by fagatos and violoncelle down here. One octave higher like this. This is perhaps one indication more to the fact that Kreisler had a brighter sound in mind than Sibelius. Or here, the rare example, Kreisler just put some chords to the end of the whole work, maybe to give some [inaudible] for the end. Or the third movement beginning here, the kettle drums are playing this written [clapping]. And the strings are playing [clapping]. And last one--. >> --If we are doing it together, it should sound like this, I'm strings. >> You're on strings, okay [clapping]. And so on. >> So it should sound all the time [clapping] but it's not when you are listening to orchestral version, the strings are more powerful so the image you get from, at the audience, it is bum ba ba, bum ba ba, bum ba ba, rather than da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. >> So, here, Kreisler chooses the solution that actually support the sound image. The example is now played by Jani. This is? >> This is [inaudible] symphony. >> Yeah. ^M00:32:24 [ Music ] ^M00:32:44 As you can hear, even the timpani's playing the rhythm, da, da, dun, da, da, dun, da da dun, but what we hear from the orchestra are mostly the strings, bum ba ba, bum ba ba, bum ba ba. This is how it sounds in Kreisler's reduction. ^M00:33:04 [ Music ] ^M00:33:21 So, come to the end. Generally speaking, one can emphasize the pragmatism and pianistic approach of Kreisler's reduction. For example, Sibelius's reduction has simply far more notes in the chords, but that is perhaps not always necessary to create an impression. Kreisler's appropriations have been executed with good taste and, thus, sound natural. And I would like to add to this that leaving out the deep basses or moving up the melodic line here and there indicate that, in his reduction, Kreisler doesn't always want to imitate the dark sounds of the orchestra. His intention seems to let the piano sound a little bit brighter than it does in Sibelius's reduction. Thank you. ^M00:34:26 [ Applause ] ^M00:34:35 >> Are there any questions from the audience? Questions? Yeah, you have one? >> So, one question that comes up in my mind is the, in general, it seems like a much more practical solution that Kreisler is doing. Do you know from, I know that the date is not known of this particular transcription, but do you know if it was his practice to perform a concerto with a pianist in general, in addition to his orchestral performances? So, is this something that he would do and he just needed something that was a more utilitarian type of, for his personal use of these types of reductions? I don't know enough about his performance habits in the early days. >> That's a good question. As far as I know, Kreisler played a lot of concerts with different pianists. And, for example, he recorded all Beethoven's 1 sonatas at least 3 times which is quite a huge work. So, recital concerts was his main business actually. And, but we don't know anything about this work he made, this reduction from Sibelius's concerto. We don't know did he play it himself, but I guess, I suppose that he was planning to use this work in his recitals. But, unfortunately, there's no written documents about this. >> But did he generally have a pianist when he was doing these recitals? >> Yes, yes, of course. >> But I meant more when he's doing concerto reductions in performance, was that part of his staple repertory? So not just the works that are for violin and piano, but also these types of reductions. >> Well, I don't know, but during his time, it was really common to play every kind of music. >> Everybody did this at the time. >> Yeah, yeah. >> So I assume Kreisler did it too. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still Jascha Heifetz played lots of recitals and playing concertos as the first half. For example, this Mendelssohn Bartholdy E Minor Concerto was very often played by him with piano. And then, after intermission, there was show pieces and then some sonatas and something like that. >> Even if, yes, even if he was already a superstar who played with every orchestra. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> So, can I ask, what, you are very, very interested in Kreisler. What, in particular, got you so fascinated by him? >> Of course his works for violin are very fascinating for a violinist like me. Or every other violinist should be interested about his works. Maybe that's the main reason we became so interested about his works. And, of course, this recording we have recorded some, was it 11 or 12 Kreislers showpieces we played together? >> Eleven. >> Eleven, yeah. And it was quite a big work to produce these works as a CD and, of course, we played those works so much that we find out all the time more details from the score. And so it was really interesting job to do. >> And from the pianist's point of view, it's rewarding to play Kreisler's score because it's very pianistic always. He was a good pianist too and you can, you see it, you feel it always. >> There's a question. >> Are these 2 reductions played, are they performed a lot today? >> You mean? >> Sibelius and Kreisler. >> Kreisler not because this is unpublished. So we are using only copies and it's not available from music store or somewhere. So, you have to come here to U.S. Library to get copies so. >> The Sibelius one? >> Sibelius one, it's available everywhere. And also this Gretchaninoff version of it--. >> --Gretchaninoff too. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Mostly you play the Sibelius version. Of course, nowadays, reductions are mostly played in concerts just in choral works, from the choral works. Not so often anymore in this kind of instrumental concertos. >> Yeah, in fact, your performance last night at the Finnish Embassy was probably the premiere of this Kreisler reduction. >> Yes, it could be true that it might be the first time ever here in the U.S. And, of course, we have played these together somewhere in Finland and, day before yesterday, we played it in Copenhagen when it was Finnish National Day. So that was actually the first really public concert of this version we gave. >> Any other questions? All right, well, we have some music then to round up this program, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, Mike Turpin [phonetic] back there has been handling the technology. >> So this is the third movement of Sibelius's concerto with Kreisler piano reduction from the CD we made last year and we are still looking for a publisher for this CD. So, if here is millionaires [laughter]. ^M00:41:47 [ Music ] ^M00:49:55 [ Applause ] ^M00:50:08 >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And if you're interested in the manuscript, it's over there and that's Fritz Kreisler's [background music] childhood violin, right? >> This has been a presentation of The Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.