Violin Concerto Op. 8/2 Summer

SKU: HL.242899

UPC: 888680953126. 9x12.25 inches.

This is the violin solo part of Philip Glass's wonderful Violin Concerto No. 2 “American Four Seasons.” The piece was commissioned by Toronto Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, the world premiere was held in Toronto on December 9th 2009, conducted by Peter Oundjian. At this premiere, the violinist was Robert McDuffie, for whom the Concerto was composed. During the summer and autumn of 2009, Glass composed this work after many years of exchanges with McDuffie. His idea of creating a work that would be influenced by, and an accompaniment to Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Interestingly, Glass has provided no indication in the score of where each season falls, making it open for interpretation by the performers or the audience.

SKU: FG.55011-615-3

ISBN 9790550116153.

Kalevi Aho (b. 1949) composed Violin concerto No. 2 in late summer and early autumn 2015 for the Finnish violinist Elina Vahala. Lasting about 32 minutes, the second concerto is a large-scale virtuoso work dominated by the soloist. The strong-featured first movement (Allegro) begins with a fairly short orchestral introduction that is followed by the soloist's first vigorous statement. Around the middle of the movement is a cadenza, and the movement ends with a quick stretta. The soloist dominates the events in the slow second movement (Adagio) even more than it did in the first. The Adagio begins with the same opening motif for the soloist as the first movement, but this time the motif is more lyrical and singing. Having built up to a dramatic climax, it subsides on flageolet notes and finally sounds that are somewhere between musical notes and noise. The third movement (Vivace, leggiero) is by nature dance-like again and lighter than the previous ones. At the end, the tempo accelerates to a wild, virtuosic prestissimo. Piano reduction (2020) by Kari Vehmanen.

SKU: BR.PB-16110

ISBN 9790004214374. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Johannes Brahms's only violin concerto, one of the most important violin concertos of the 19th century, is now a central repertoire piece. This fact is all the more notable, as, by his own account, Brahms understood all too little about the instrument. The concerto was composed at Worthersee during the summer of 1878 in collaboration with Joseph Joachim, a leading contemporary violinist. The solo part is extremely demanding, with really unusual difficulties. This circumstance did not go unnoticed by the critics of the first performance: Even to Joachim, the battled-seasoned wrestler, the technically difficult and tricky solo part was to be mastered only with obvious effort. Evidencing this close collaboration between composer and performer is not only the work's genesis and publication history, together with its dedication to Joachim, but also its solo cadenza. Based on the New Brahms Complete Edition, this Urtext edition includes both the printed version of Joachim's cadenza as well as its shorter version arranged in 1885 by the violinist Marie Soldat.

SKU: BR.OB-16110-15

ISBN 9790004348024. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Johannes Brahms's only violin concerto, one of the most important violin concertos of the 19th century, is now a central repertoire piece. This fact is all the more notable, as, by his own account, Brahms understood all too little about the instrument. The concerto was composed at Worthersee during the summer of 1878 in collaboration with Joseph Joachim, a leading contemporary violinist. The solo part is extremely demanding, with really unusual difficulties. This circumstance did not go unnoticed by the critics of the first performance: Even to Joachim, the battled-seasoned wrestler, the technically difficult and tricky solo part was to be mastered only with obvious effort. Evidencing this close collaboration between composer and performer is not only the work's genesis and publication history, together with its dedication to Joachim, but also its solo cadenza. Based on the New Brahms Complete Edition, this Urtext edition includes both the printed version of Joachim's cadenza as well as its shorter version arranged in 1885 by the violinist Marie Soldat.