ARTHUR CATTERALL (Solo Violin)
THE AUGMENTED STATION ORCHESTRA, conducted by T. H. MORRISON
ORCHESTRA GOETHE wrote a play upon the heroic life and tragic end of Count Egmont, the patriot who, after the war between Spain and the Netherlands in the sixteenth century, was beheaded, along with Count Horn, by the cruel Duke of Alva.
To this play the poet's friend Beethoven composed an Overture and incidental music. In the Overture the imperious pride and heroism of Egmont are finely suggested.
THIS, one of the two or three most popular Violin Concertos in the world, has already been pretty fully described in The Radio Times. The five Drum notes which open the FIRST MoveMENT form a motif of which, as the music, unfolds itself, considerable use is made. The Woodwind has both First and Second Main Tunes; while the Second is being given out (it begins with a lofty, rising phrase) the Strings reiterate the opening Drum rhythm. Before the Soloist enters and the game is fully afoot, yet a third Tune, in Strings and Woodwind, is heard-a, loud one, rising boldly up the scale.
The SECOND MOVEMENT is a lovely example of Variation form, in which a tender, noble melody is heard in different forms, as if the Solo Violin were meditating upon and lovingly caressing it. This Movement goes directly, without a break, into the FINALE, a gay Rondo, wherein the somewhat bucolic Main Tune has, as lyrical contrast, a minor-key Tune, played by the Soloist.
HERE is a cheery work of Beethoven's early manhood. He wrote it when he was thirty-three. It represents a big step forward, in breadth of style and freedom of individuality, from the First Symphony, fresh and striking as that was.