Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Men In Jeans!

Am I ever glad it is my day off, I am so ready for it.  After a brutal schedule over this week of 11.5, 9.5, 10.5 shifts and a short 8.5 shift, I am one tired puppy.  Add to that the fact that it is Pay Day and jam packed with chores and errands and you can plainly see there will be no rest for the weary today!  Anyway, we still have Music, Men and Merriment on tap, so let's get on into it.  

Our exploration into Violin Concerti and Sonatas this week has taken us on a pleasant journey so far and today, we cruise on over to Russia  to see what we find.  Tchaikovsky, like Sibelius and Dvorak wrote only one Violin Concerto, the one in D Major,  Opus 35 and no other works dedicated to the Violin.  Tchaikovsky was born on this day in 1840 and he was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally.  He bolstered with appearances as a guest conductor later in his career in Europe and the United States.  One of these appearances was at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1891. You will find a marvelous performance of his Violin Concerto by Staatkapelle Dresden with David Oistrakh as the Violin Soloist posted down below.  

Because I wanted to stay with the Russian theme for the day, I thought I would look at the two Sergeis, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev.  I never made it to Rachmaninoff, as Prokofiev wrote 2 Violin Concerti, the more famous of the set being Number 2 in G Minor, Opus 63 of which I found a fantastic recording.  The 1956 recording of Leonid Kogan as the Soloist accompanied by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Kondrashin's Baton will be found over on my tumblr.  

Then let us not forget the denim dynamite available for a cruise and peruse in this week's edition of Men In Jeans posted fdown below.  Then your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr is looking all Hunky in  a Hoodie.  Thanks for the visit, see you again tomorrow when we explore Beethoven's only Violin Concerto and his Kreutzer Sonata to kick off the weekend.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!