Double Concerto (Zwilich)

Last updated

The Concerto for Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra is a double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra for the violinist Jaime Laredo and the cellist Sharon Robinson and in memory of the sculpture Albert Wein. It was first performed by Laredo, Robinson, and the Louisville Orchestra under the direction of Lawrence Leighton Smith on December 5, 1991. The piece is dedicated to Lawrence Leighton Smith and the Louisville Orchestra. [1]

Contents

Composition

The Double Concerto is cast in two numbered movements and has a performance duration of roughly 18 minutes. In the score program note, Zwilich described the two movements as "both employing related expansive themes in a mixture of speeds and moods." She continued, "The first begins lyrically, becomes agitated, then returns to a quiet close. The second movement is just the reverse; it starts very fast, changes character into an extended slow section, and finally returns to the faster tempos in an extended coda." [1]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin and cello and an orchestra consisting of two flutes, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. [1]

Reception

Reviewing a recording of the work performed by Laredo, Robinson, and the Florida State University Orchestra conducted by Michael Stern, John Fleming of the Tampa Bay Times described the concerto as "Zwilich at her best, perhaps because she is a violinist." He added, "Cellist Sharon Robinson and violinist Jaime Laredo mesh beautifully, their instruments often coming together as one complex, beguiling voice. Stern and the FSU students do a fine job of creating an orchestral texture that includes some splendidly forthright brass play." [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is an American composer, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her early works are marked by atonal exploration, but by the late 1980s she had shifted to a post-modernist, neo-romantic style. She has been called "one of America's most frequently played and genuinely popular living composers." She was a 1994 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. Zwilich currently serves as the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.

Shulamit Ran is an Israeli-American composer. She moved from Israel to New York City at 14, as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music. Her Symphony (1990) won her the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In this regard, she was the second woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first being Ellen Taaffe Zwilich in 1983. Ran was a professor of music composition at the University of Chicago from 1973 to 2015. She has performed as a pianist in Israel, Europe and the U.S., and her compositional works have been performed worldwide by a wide array of orchestras and chamber groups.

Richard Danielpour is an American composer.

Jaime Laredo American conductor and violinist

Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio de Grassi. He also studied with Frank Houser before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, to study under Josef Gingold in 1953. He studied with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music until his graduation. From 1960 to 1974 he was married to the pianist Ruth Laredo. Laredo is currently a professor at the renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He served as artistic advisor for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conducted the orchestra on April 18, 2009, in a program featuring his wife, the cellist Sharon Robinson. He was scheduled to again conduct the orchestra for two programs during the 2009–10 season. Laredo and Robinson were also featured soloists in a special concert conducted by Andrew Constantine, who became the Philharmonic's music director in July 2009.

Sharon Hall Robinson is an American cellist. She has had a highly successful performing career, both as a concert solo artist and as a member of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and has recorded extensively.

Linton Chamber Music Series is a presenter of chamber music and educational concerts based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Kalichstein–Laredo–Robinson Trio is an American piano trio consisting of violinist Jaime Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson, and pianist Joseph Kalichstein. The trio is one of the longest-lasting chamber ensembles with all of its original members, having debuted in 1977 at the inauguration of president Jimmy Carter. In 2001 it was named by Musical America as Ensemble of the Year, and in 2011 it was awarded the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from The Classical Recording Foundation. In the 2003-2004 season, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts appointed Kalichstein–Laredo–Robinson Ensemble in Residence. The trio is widely regarded as perhaps the most seminal piano trio performing today, and are noted for the high quality of their interpretations of the trio repertoire.

The Double Concerto for Violin, Violoncello, and Orchestra is a 2014 composition by the German-American composer André Previn. The work was co-commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Linton Music with financial support from Ann and Harry Santen. It was additionally commissioned by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Kansas City Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere was given by the husband/wife duo of the violinist Jaime Laredo and the cellist Sharon Robinson with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Louis Langrée in Cincinnati on November 21, 2014. The concerto is dedicated to Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson.

The Double Concerto is a composition for violin, cello, and orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and composed between July 27, 1997 and April 1998. It was composed for the violinist Jaime Laredo and the cellist Sharon Robinson, who first performed the piece with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Raymond Leppard in Indianapolis on October 15, 1998.

The Symphony No. 2 is a composition for orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was composed in 1985 on a commission from the San Francisco Symphony. It was first performed on November 13, 1985, by the San Francisco Symphony under the direction of Edo de Waart, to whom the piece is dedicated.

The Symphony No. 3 is a symphony for orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate their sesquicentennial anniversary. It was first performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Jahja Ling on February 25, 1993. The symphony is dedicated "with love and admiration" to Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra is violin concerto by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the violinist Pamela Frank. It was completed on May 25, 1997, and was first performed by Pamela Frank and the Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Hugh Wolff in Carnegie Hall on March 26, 1998.

The Symphony No. 5 "Concerto for Orchestra" is a composition for orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the Juilliard School in honor of Bruce Kovner and Suzie Kovner with support of the Trust of Francis Goelet. It was first performed by the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by James Conlon at Carnegie Hall on October 27, 2008.

The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is a composition for solo cello and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was written on a commission from the South Florida Symphony Orchestra. Zwilich composed the piece over a six-month period, completing the work in early 2020. It was given its world premiere by the cellist Zuill Bailey the South Florida Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sebrina María Alfonso on March 5, 2020, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The concerto is dedicated to Zuill Bailey and Sebrina María Alfonso and written in memory of the cellists Leonard Rose and Mstislav Rostropovich.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was written on a commission from Carnegie Hall, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the League of American Orchestras. It was the first composition ever commissioned by either Carnegie Hall or the League of American Orchestras. The world premiere was performed by the pianist Marc-André Hamelin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Günther Herbig at the Meadow Brook Music Festival in Rochester Hills, Michigan, on June 26, 1986. The piece is dedicated to Günther Herbig.

The Concerto Grosso 1985 is a composition for chamber orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the Washington Friends of Handel in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of George Frideric Handel. It was given its world premiere by Handel Festival Orchestra conducted by Stephen Simon on May 9, 1986.

The Clarinet Concerto is a composition for solo clarinet and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. It was commissioned by the Arlene and Dr. Milton D. Berkman Philanthropic Fund for the clarinetist David Shifrin, to whom the piece is dedicated. The concerto was first performed by Shifrin and twelve members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall on September 12, 2003.

The Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra is a bassoon concerto written by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for their principal bassoonist Nancy Goeres. It was given its world premiere by Goeres and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel in Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, on May 13, 1993. The piece is dedicated to Maazel, Goeres, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe (1992). "Concerto for Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra". Theodore Presser Company . Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  2. Fleming, John (September 1, 2005). "Classical Files". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved July 25, 2020.