The concert will be conducted by Meritorious Artist Tran Vuong Thach, the Music Director of the HBSO. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy performances of renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s works, including his Violin Concerto and a significant suite from his ballet masterpiece Swan Lake.
Tchaikovsky composed his violin concerto in 1878 while on a rest cure in Switzerland, at the age of 38, following a period of depression. Although he did not play the violin himself, Tchaikovsky received assistance from a young violinist who stayed with him in Switzerland. The young violinist helped him ensure that the violin solo part was suitable for the instrument.
The concerto consists of three movements, with the second and third movements connected. Initially, the critical reception of the concerto was mixed, but it has evolved over the years to become one of the greatest classics in the violin repertoire.
Artist Pham Vinh, of Vietnamese descent but born in Paris, studied under renowned English violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin praised Vinh for his exceptional ability to easily and spontaneously express any emotion, describing his qualities as admirable and rare.
Following the intermission, the audience will be treated to several sections of the Swan Lake Suite. Swan Lake is one of Tchaikovsky’s three famous ballets and premiered in 1877, a year before the violin concerto.
In 1882, Tchaikovsky expressed his desire to preserve the music from Swan Lake, stating that he wanted to “save this music from oblivion, since it contains some fine things.” However, he never completed the suite before his death, despite living for another 11 years after expressing his intent. The version of the suite that will be performed in Saigon has been arranged by an unknown individual based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet score.
The history of the Swan Lake ballet is complex, with various early choreographers demanding changes to what they perceived as an incomprehensible storyline. Swan Lake is the first of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, with the other two being Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
The suite that will be performed in Saigon consists of eight movements, including the Mazurka from Act III, the Waltz from Act I, three variations of the Dance of the Swans in Act II, and the Spanish Dance from Act III.
