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In music, a cadenza, is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display. During this time the accompaniment will rest, or sustain a note or chord. Thus an improvised cadenza is indicated in written notation by a fermata in all parts. A cadenza will usually occur over either the final or penultimate note in a piece, the lead-in, or the final or penultimate note in an important subsection of a piece. A cadenza can also be found before a final coda or ritornello.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, by the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann was completed in 1845 and is the composer's only piano concerto. The complete work was premiered in Dresden on 4 December 1845. It is one of the most widely performed and recorded piano concertos from the Romantic period.
The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 of Jean Sibelius, originally composed in 1904 and revised in 1905, is the only concerto by Sibelius. It is symphonic in scope and included an extended cadenza for the soloist that takes on the role of the development section in the first movement.
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than his earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue. It was written in 1925 on a commission from the conductor and director Walter Damrosch. A full performance lasts around half an hour.
Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, MWV O 14, is his last concerto. Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos. It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. A typical performance lasts just under half an hour.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622, was completed in October 1791 for the clarinettist Anton Stadler. It consists of three movements, in a fast–slow–fast succession.
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, was composed between 1929 and 1931. The piano concerto is in three movements, with a total playing time of a little over 20 minutes. Ravel said that in this piece he was not aiming to be profound but to entertain, in the manner of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Among its other influences are jazz and Basque folk music.
The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major was composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930, concurrently with his Piano Concerto in G major. The piece was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War.
Sergei Prokofiev set to work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16, in 1912 and completed it the next year. However, that version of the concerto is lost; the score was destroyed in a fire following the Russian Revolution. Prokofiev reconstructed the work in 1923, two years after finishing his Piano Concerto No. 3, and declared it to be "so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered [Piano Concerto] No. 4." Indeed, its orchestration has features that clearly postdate the 1921 concerto. Performing as soloist, Prokofiev premiered this "No. 2" in Paris on 8 May 1924 with Serge Koussevitzky conducting. It is dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, a friend of Prokofiev's at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, who had committed suicide in April 1913 after having written a farewell letter to Prokofiev.
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, is a concerto composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for keyboard and orchestra. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786, finishing it on 24 March 1786, three weeks after completing his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major. As he intended to perform the work himself, Mozart did not write out the soloist's part in full. The premiere was in early April 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Chronologically, the work is the twentieth of Mozart's 23 original piano concertos.
The Concert Fantasia in G, Op. 56, for piano and orchestra, was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between June and October 1884. It was premiered in Moscow on 6 March [O.S. 22 February] 1885, with Sergei Taneyev as soloist and Max Erdmannsdörfer conducting. The Concert Fantasia received many performances in the first 20 years of its existence. It then disappeared from the repertoire and lay virtually unperformed for many years, but underwent a revival in the latter part of the 20th century.
Carl Maria von Weber wrote his Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73 for the clarinettist Heinrich Bärmann in 1811. The piece is highly regarded in the instrument's repertoire. It is written for clarinet in B♭. The work consists of three movements in the form of fast, slow, fast. It was premiered in Munich on 13 June 1811, with Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in attendance.
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 29 by Camille Saint-Saëns, was composed in 1869. The concerto is written in 3 movements. When the concerto was first performed by Saint-Saëns himself at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 27 November 1869 it was not well received, possibly because of its harmonic experimentation. It is not as often performed as his famous second concerto or the fourth or fifth concertos, but it is still an important addition to the piano concerto repertoire. It was dedicated to Élie-Miriam Delaborde, a pianist who is believed to have been the natural son of Charles-Valentin Alkan.
Philip Glass's Violin Concerto No. 1 was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra for soloist Paul Zukofsky and premiered in New York City on 5 April 1987. The work was composed with Glass's late father in mind. The piece quickly became one of Glass's most popular works. It is usually around 25–30 minutes in duration when performed.
The Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra is a double timpani concerto written by Philip Glass in 2000. It is paired with the Cello Concerto on Vol. I of Glass' Concerto Project, a set of eight concerti by the composer. A typical performance of the work lasts 25–28 minutes. It was written for Jonathan Haas and later recorded by Evelyn Glennie, and was premiered by Haas and Svet Stoyanov with the American Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, conducted by Leon Botstein. The work was commissioned jointly by the American Symphony Orchestra, the Peabody Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony and the Phoenix Symphony. In 2004, a transcription for wind ensemble was written by Mark Lortz, which debuted at Peabody Institute in 2005.
Incantations for Percussion and Orchestra is a concerto for percussion and orchestra in three movements by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. The work was composed for the percussionist Colin Currie on a joint commission from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. The first performance was given in Royal Festival Hall, London by Currie and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin on October 24, 2009.
The Violin Concerto is a composition for solo violin and orchestra by the American composer Joan Tower. It was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition and the Snowbird Institute. The piece was first performed by the violinist Elmar Oliveira and the Utah Symphony under the conductor Joseph Silverstein on April 24, 1992, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is dedicated to the violinist Elmar Oliveira. The composition was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Soundings is an orchestral composition by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for their final season with the conductor Daniel Barenboim as music director. It was first performed on October 6, 2005 at the Symphony Center, Chicago, by Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Concerto for Piano is the first piano concerto by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Its world premiere was performed by the pianist Jacquelyn M. Helin and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic conducted by Imre Palló on January 31, 1986. The music contains numerous allusions to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, in whose memory it is dedicated.
Aaron Jay Kernis's Violin Concerto was written between 2016 and 2017 for the violinist James Ehnes on a joint commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with support of the Norma and Don Stone Fund for New Music. Its world premiere was performed by Ehnes and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, on March 8, 2017. Kernis dedicated the piece to James Ehnes "with great admiration and friendship." The concerto later received the 2019 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Instrumental Solo.
References
- 1 2 3 Tower, Joan (1988). "Concerto for Clarinet". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
- ↑ Henken, John (May 11, 1997). "Working in Concerto With Tower". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 19, 2016.
- ↑ Bliss, Susan (February 12, 1996). "Shifrin Excels in Clarinet Concerto". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 19, 2016.
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