Kreisler's Three Viennese Dances (and Praeludium and Allegro)

(experimenting with alternative blog format in point form) 

Three Old Viennese Dances or Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen.
Liebesfreud, Liebeslied and Schon Rosmarin.

Composed by Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler.
Published in 1905.

Essentially Waltzes.
Wikipedia link for more information here.

Originally written for Violin with Piano accompaniment.

Not complicated in texture.

Beautiful melodies.

Evokes aura of old Vienna.

First two dances transcribed by Rachmaninoff for Piano.

Very popular encore pieces.

IMSLP link for scores (original and transcriptions) here.

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1. Liebesfreud (Love's Joy)

ORIGINAL VERSION FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

Joyful and bright.
Set in a major key.

Interesting counterplay of motifs between violin and piano in second section.

 Violin  - Maxim Vengerov 

RACHMANINOFF'S TRANSCRIPTION FOR PIANO
  Listen to the hidden melodies.
Very cleverly transformed.
Stretches original harmonies into higher order chords.
Imaginative modulation to a different key for the second part.



Played by Rachmaninoff himself! 

Also played by Rachmaninoff but on a AMPICO piano roll and reproduced on a real piano.

* * * * *

2. Liebeslied (Love's Sorrow)

ORIGINAL VERSION FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
More melancholic.
Minor key.
Second section in major key.
Perhaps recalling happier times of love.


Violin by Fritz Kreisler himself

Violin by Leonidas Kavakos, Piano by Daniil Trifonov
More recent.
By two international stars.

RACHMANINOFF'S TRANSCRIPTION FOR PIANO
Listen again to the beautiful undercurrents of hidden melodies and suspensions.

Played by Rachmaninoff himself. 




Played by Charles Rosen.
With running score.




Played By Jorge Bolet

(added 3 July 2018)

Brilliant analysis and illustration by Wiwi Kuan.
With score breakdown showing different underlying motifs and chord progressions.

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3. Schon Rosmarin (Beautiful Rosemary)

ORIGINAL VERSION FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
A delightful gem!
Nice obligato ideas in the piano accompaniment.
 

Played by Kreisler himself.
Tone is Viennese-sweet.




Interesting visualisation and instructional video by Ben Chan




No piano transcription by Rachmaninoff!
 What a shame.
Perhaps someone should come up with one in the style of Rachmaninoff.

* * * * * * * * * *

BONUS

Praeludium and Allegro

ORIGINAL VERSION FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
Also by Kreisler.
 Not one of the three old Viennese Dances but probably a close cousin.
Two parts - a slow Praeludium of crotchets, followed by an Allegro of relentless semiquavers.
Nice circle-of-fifths sequences, with rich chord extensions.



This version  probably performed by Itzhak Perlman.
Very energetic.
Horrible semiquaver string crossings and double stops!



Live version:

David Garrett on the Violin with Julien Quentin on the Piano
and Marcus Wolf on the Guitar (unusual addition)







PIANO TRANSCRIPTION BY VANAYEV
Not by Rachmaninoff, but quite a good transcription.
Distils key ideas from original without being clouded by the ornamenti.

Performed by Cyprien Katsaris.
Posted by thenameisgarci.