expressive violin piece request

Telergic

Telergic

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I would like a solo violin piece (or a piece that can be transposed for and is otherwise appropriate for solo violin) written before 1917 which conveys a sense of peacefulness and serenity more than any other emotion.

I can think of some orchestral works that might fit the bill, but offhand I don't know of any appropriate solos.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Telergic

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TellMeAStory said:
What do you think of this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bVRTtcWmXI
Click to expand...

Bach's Chaconne is in my unlearned opinion the single best work ever written for the violin. However, I think of it as tragic, sad, and deeply moving, cathartic even, but not contemplative and serene.

Brahms said:
On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.
Click to expand...

Edit: I just listened to a few more interpretations of the piece from various musicians. Amazing how much the emotional content changes based on the musician. For some playings it's much as I said, for others it's much more technical and dispassionate.
 
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slhuang

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Dvorak has a lot of pieces I would consider peaceful and serene.

I have a CD somewhere called "Beethoven for Booklovers" that is Beethoven selected to be listened to while reading. It's all quite soothing, wonderfully atmospheric pieces. I'm sure you can find the list of pieces online.

On the radio station Classical KUSC (listen at KUSC.org), Rich Capparela does an "anti-road rage melody," his "car tune," every weekday at 5pm PST to help with the afternoon commute. It's always very serene. :D I couldn't find a list of the ones he's played online, but if you start turning on KUSC at 5pm every day you might find one you fancy!

eta: I saw the part about it needing to be a violin solo, but then I forgot about it by the time I wrote my post! Rats! Sorry! I have to run now but I'll think about it and see if I can come up with anything good. :D
 
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benbradley

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slhuang said:
Dvorak has a lot of pieces I would consider peaceful and serene.

I have a CD somewhere called "Beethoven for Booklovers" that is Beethoven selected to be listened to while reading. It's all quite soothing, wonderfully atmospheric pieces. I'm sure you can find the list of pieces online.
Click to expand...
Surely Beethoven's 6th symphony is included in that. It's nice, positive, in a major key and melodic, and I can easily hear a solo violin playing the main theme.
 
Telergic

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Thanks, I'll look into all of those.

Wow, I had no idea that Albinoni piece was so familiar. I must have heard it a hundred times without knowing what it was. Huh. Looking it up I see that Albinoni himself was 17th century, but the piece itself is from the 1950s, having been composed based on a fragment of his found in the ruins of Dresden. So I'm afraid that one is not a possibility. Curious how many movies, TV shows, and pop music tracks it's been used in.
 

CoolBlue

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Telergic said:
Thanks, I'll look into all of those.

Wow, I had no idea that Albinoni piece was so familiar. I must have heard it a hundred times without knowing what it was. Huh. Looking it up I see that Albinoni himself was 17th century, but the piece itself is from the 1950s, having been composed based on a fragment of his found in the ruins of Dresden. So I'm afraid that one is not a possibility. Curious how many movies, TV shows, and pop music tracks it's been used in.
Click to expand...

Well, sheesh!! :(

I did not know that. Thanks for the edumacation, Telergic.

CB, who will research any classical music recommendation he ever makes in the future. :)
 

CoolBlue

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Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei was published in 1881.

It is my favourite cello piece, but this version is for the violin, and hauntingly beautiful, if a little sombre.

Does this atone for my previous suggestion? ;)

HTH
CB
 
Telergic

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Well, you might have to wait until next Yom Kippur for complete absolution....
 
benbenberi

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Debussy, "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" (1910) - originally for piano, but the violin version is gorgeous & popular too

Massenet, Meditation from Thais - you've heard it a million times, it's the ultimate Romantic swoosh!

Rachmaninoff, Vocalise - also great Romantic swooshiness
 
Telergic

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Of those three, I think l like the Rachmaninoff the best.

But as it happens in this WWI-era aviation fantasy, Rhiannon, the goddess, happens to have some importance and I have already characterized her as blonde in the story (the Mabinogi doesn't say, but her son is blonde), so I think The Girl With the Flaxen Hair is likely to be a winner. Moreover the player is French and is bound to be familiar with Debussy's works.
 
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