SKU: HL.49045166
ISBN 9790220135002. UPC: 888680724214. 8.25x11.75x0.276 inches.
Violin Concerto is scored for a Classical-sized orchestra, with the addition of a harp and celeste, and lasts around 17 minutes. Although the work sets out to explore the lyrical characteristics of the solo instrument, it is only gradually that the violin finds its full, lyric voice, and thence, as the work progresses, a more dominant role. This, in one sense, is the 'journey' of the piece. The work's straightforward formal scheme consists of three movements (roughly fast-slow-fast) framed by a reflective introduction and epilogue. However, these formal divisions exist within a single, unbroken arc. Such an overall symmetrical shape places the slow Arioso (itself divided into three subsections) at the midpoint, sandwiched between the two Allegro movements. The dramaturgy of the piece centers on a twofold search. First there is the ongoing pursuit to recapture the simple melodic material stated by the solo violin - accompanied by thar harp's bass register - during the opening bars. Whilst aspects of this melody are invoked frequently throughout (especially in the violin cadenza which closes the Arioso movement), it is only with the final and most important climax of the work that the melody appears again in its complete form, now accompanied by violent, orchestral stabs. The second search is for a tonal resting place, the arrival of which is delayed until the close of the epilogue. The original version of the Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, was premiered in Amsterdam in February 2012 with Gordan Nikolic as soloist. The present, revised version was created for Barnabas Kelemen and the Halle.
SKU: HL.49003321
ISBN 9790220119804. UPC: 073999369168. 8.0x11.75x0.184 inches.
I did not want to write a virtuoso show-piece, but rather to draw on the orchestra's alertness as an ensemble. The solo part is essentially lyrical and there is no cadenza as such. But I was also conscious of the fact that, as with a baroque concerto, the soloist may also direct the work and does so here. (G. Bryars).
