Mike Ersing's Music You Should Listen To: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

1840 - 1893

Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky composed only one violin concerto. It is considered the most difficult violin concerto to have been written in the Romantic period. Leopold Auer "The God of Russian Violin" of the time refused to perform it. Leopold, in a letter to Tchaikovsky, wrote: "No, my dear man. Please bring the piece to me again when you have recomposed it for the violin. As it stands, it cannot be played." It premiered in Vienna, as written, on December 4th 1881. Dr. Eduard Hanslick, a respected and feared critic of the time called it "barbarically dreadful". He also misnamed the middle movement, as well as the principle violinist. The principle violinist's name was Adolphe Brodsky. He was considered the greatest virtuoso violinist of his time. He was young. Adolphe Brodsky toured throughout the known world performing the piece. It has been speculated he did this because he felt indebted to Tchaikovsky.

Dr. Eduard Hanslick, I would like to sink my teeth into your flesh tear off your face and smash through your skull with my fist, shove my hand through your brain and tear out your soul, like an animal. Just like an animal. I would show you what it means to be destructive.

Too bad you’re dead.

And nobody ever liked you.

If anybody says anything bad about this piece it is because they are too stupid to understand the intense emotional/virtuosic beauty permeating every microscopic dot of ‘Light infinance’ permeating its vast, thick vacuum waving, indefinitely splattering shells of grown over infant part of the White Brain. You know, reminder? Big Awake! Spontaneity! Lick! ‘Pure White Infinite Brains', Thick waving dimension. Opening and unfolding expanses of purple and red and orange and yellow subjective dimensions! Pierced. As if it were laser beam tractor beams from the USS Enterprise, spotting and illuminating the innards of my third eye. Pulling and sucking it. The innocence. Pure tear-wrenching wonder and other beautiful notions lost to any but God and me, in my brains. His feelings are our own, Once again. Reason to exist shows itself to the searching mind. Please, listen to this piece if you have any idea what I’m talking about.

See ya.

-- Mike Ersing