For what is now a highly popular and much loved work, Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto had a difficult start in life. Tchaikovsky wrote the concerto in March 1878, inspired by a visit from his violin playing friend Josef Kotek. He completed it in less than three weeks, and soon he and Josef played it for his brother Modest. They liked it except for the slow movement, so Tchaikovsky wrote a new slow movement that pleased them all much more. (The original one was published later as “Meditation” for violin and piano.) He then orchestrated it, and the concerto was completed by the end of the month. So far so good - and remarkably quick.

But who was to perform it? Tchaikovsky decided not to dedicate the work to his friend “in order to avoid gossip of various kinds”, but to the great violin teacher and soloist Leopold Auer. Unfortunately Auer was not impressed with the concerto: he thought it “called for a thorough revision, being un-violinistic and not written in the idiom of the strings”. He decided to undertake this revision himself but other tasks got in the way, and after two frustrating years Tchaikovsky gave up waiting for Auer. Because of the delay the concerto had begun to be spoken of as unplayable, until a younger violinist, Adolf Brodsky, took up the cause and learned the work, despite its considerable and genuine difficulties. Brodsky gave the first performance under Hans Richter with the Vienna Philharmonic in December 1881.

This was not the end of the problems. The concerto had a mixed reception by the public, though the applause was greater than the disapproval. But the critics almost all disliked it, especially the very influential Viennese critic Hanslick, whose review was appallingly abusive. “The violin is no longer played, it is yanked about, it is torn asunder, it is beaten black and blue …” he wrote, and the concerto gave him “the horrid idea that there may be music that stinks …”. Tchaikovsky never forgot or forgave him. History does not tell if Hanslick changed his view, but Leopold Auer certainly did. He played the concerto often to great success, as did many of his famous pupils, and thereby helped establish it as one of the great violin concertos.

The first movement is the most substantial, though it starts innocently enough with a single line on the orchestral violins. This becomes an introduction, shared between orchestra and soloist, to the first main theme on the solo violin. This is quite flamboyant, and soon subsides to a calmer, but equally lyrical, second theme. Soon the full orchestra gets its turn with the first theme, and then the soloist discovers a virtuosic variant of the second theme. The full orchestra leads the soloist into a ferociously difficult but brilliant cadenza, which is followed by a recapitulation of the two main themes. A gradual acceleration winds up the excitement to a brilliant close.

The slow movement is a total contrast, being short, simple, and very calm. After an introduction on the woodwind, the soloist has the main tune which is discreetly decorated by woodwind soloists, especially the flute and clarinet.

It leads directly into the finale, which includes a short cadenza for the violin before it gets properly under way. The main theme is fiery and energetic, and it alternates with slower sections. These are treated differently on each reappearance, but the main mood is one of brilliance and excitement, all the way to the finishing line.