The Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra, Op. 77 by Malcolm Arnold was finished in 1962. It is in three movements:
The work was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin for him and his pupil Alberto Lysy. They premiered the work during the Bath International Music Festival on 24 June 1962 at the Bath Guildhall. The Bath Festival Orchestra was conducted by the composer. [2]
The first London performance was given by Menuhin and Robert Masters, with the Bath Festival Orchestra, and was also conducted by the composer. [1]
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. He played the Soil Stradivarius, considered one of the finest violins made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari.
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Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Oscar.
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Hephzibah Menuhin was an American-Australian pianist, writer, and human rights campaigner. She was sister to the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and to the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin. She was also a linguist and writer, co-authoring several books and writing many papers with her second husband, Richard Hauser.
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