A pastiche is basically an imitation , like a fake Gucci handbag, which looks like the real thing, is expertly made , could fool the uninitiated, but is far less expensive and  not as highly valued. There are quite a few  compositions which are the musical equivalents of a fake Gucci handbag.But there are significant differences.The composer does not aim to “fool” the concert  public. The producer of a real Gucci handbag is not at the same time producing fake Gucci handbags whereas when a composer like Maurice Ravel writes “Tsigane”, a brilliant virtuoso violin showpiece in the style of Hungarian Gypsy fiddling , he has no pretensions to be offering you something deep and meaningful but merely wants to present an upmarket entertainment. Classing it as upmarket infers that the composer has given this composition as much care and thought as he would have given a symphony or a concerto. Unfortunately an imaginary fine line has often been drawn between art and craft . This distinction enables some critics and aesthetes to create a bar to the appreciation and enjoyment of items such as the “pastiches” you will hear in this program.For a great artist such as Ravel 

the distinction between art and craft was a snobbish illusion as was the need  to differentiate between the “high”( meaning spiritually uplifting ) and the “low”( meaning for entertainment purposes only ).

The other factor influencing our understanding is that we forget that TSIGANE was written for a concert audience where the listener sits still and silent whereas the Hungarian Gypsy fiddler would perform in a completely different ambience . Such music could be heard at a cafe or a party where the listeners were  not expected to sit still and silent but if  so inclined could sing along to the music or dance with wife or girlfriend between the tables.The air would be heavy with food, wine, sentimentality, emotion ,and the violinist’s playing would just be part of  the party atmosphere.It is therefore wrong to criticise Tsigane for not being “authentic”.When Marie Antoinette dressed up as a shepherdess she  also was not being authentic. There were  no sheep for her to tend and when Leonid Kogan performed Tsigane at a concert he did  not expect his audience to be eating, drinking, singing, dancing,chatting or kissing each other. So Ravel writes unauthentic

Gypsy violin music,Marie Antoinette dresses up as an unauthentic shepherdess and Leonid Kogan performs Ravel’s “fake” Gypsy rhapsody with genuinely brilliant flair and virtuosity. Three facets of the pastiche.

The 2nd pastiche you will hear is another version of the Gypsy fiddler genre written by the great Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate. It is called Gypsy Airs or in German “Zigeunerweisen”, and this is more like traditional Gypsy fiddling , full of  acrobatics, all stops out sentimentality, written for  listeners for whom the uninhibited display of feeling and emotion is part of the culture . The rigid strictures of polite society, the rules of what is permitted or not permitted no longer apply.  Protocol has been thrown out of the window in the interest of having a good time.

Havanaise by Camille Saint Saens

The Havanaise is a languorous sultry dance of Cuban origin. The listener must not get  up from his/her seat and go dancing in the aisles of the concert hall. But the listener is required to show appreciation at the end of the performance in the usual manner.

The four violinists featured in this program are Leonid Kogan playing Tzigane,Jascha Heifetz playing Gypsy Airs,David Nadien playing the Havanaise and Itzhak Perlman playing the last item on the program, the “Scottish Fantasy” by Max Bruch. All four violinists are outstanding and you can be sure that their performances are also outstanding. The  knowledge that the items they are playing are meant to  entertain has in no way affected the quality of their “fiddling”, the care and musicianship each one has brought to the task.

As to the Scottish Fantasy it’s indicative of the composer’s intention that he has called his composition a Fantasy. In other words he doesn’t pretend that this composition is authentically Scottish. He has merely used traditional Scottish tunes and dances as a starting point for what is really a romantic violin concerto.

Should all these items be called pastiches? Well yes, because they  ARE pastiches. Unfortunately the word has negative connotations and does not reflect the compositional brilliance of the composers nor their intentions.An entertainment is not meant to be a sermon or a eulogy and the concert hall is no place for a  boozy party. One would have to be perverse to prefer a dirge to a ditty. It’s unfortunate that the concert world follows world trends and has become more and more polarised and compartmentalised.

The cross fertilisation which is necessary to create a pastiche smacks too much of cultural appropriation- a definite no-no in today’s world. What a pity!