The Concerto for Flute is a composition for solo flute and orchestra by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and was composed in 1989. It was first performed at Carnegie Hall on January 28, 1990, by the flutist Carol Wincenc and the American Composers Orchestra under the conductor Hugh Wolff. The piece is dedicated to Carol Wincenc. [1] [2]
The Flute Concerto has a duration of roughly 15 minutes and is composed in one continuous movement. Tower briefly described the piece in the score program notes, writing, "The 15-minute work starts with the low register of the flute alone before the orchestra comes. As the flute gets more active, the chamber-size orchestra provides competitive tension which is matched phrase by phrase as the piece heads relentlessly towards to a finale where the "music blows wide open" (Wincenc) in a virtuosic display of flute scales and arpeggios." [1]
The work is scored for solo flute and a small orchestra comprising an additional flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon, trumpet, bass trombone, two percussionists, and strings. [1]
The Flute Concerto has been praised by music critics. Reviewing the world premiere, Bernard Holland of The New York Times wrote, "It is a one-movement work that makes a musical virtue of its technical cleverness. The flute's natural reticence in big formats is a problem met head on, not simply avoided by separating solo instrument from orchestra." He added:
Indeed, low registers set against finely separated ensemble colors give the flute a strong and intelligible identity. Voices from within the orchestra often double the solo line. Elsewhere, its racing, skittering passages explore and expand on the instrument's natural trilling character. There is an honest sentiment and energy here that Carol Wincenc, the afternoon's soloist (and the piece's dedicatee), presented forcefully. [2]
In a later review, Martin Bernheimer of the Financial Times similarly praised "the mad coloratura" of the piece. [3]
Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by The New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world. After gaining recognition for her first orchestral composition, Sequoia (1981), a tone poem which structurally depicts a giant tree from trunk to needles, she has gone on to compose a variety of instrumental works including Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, the Island Prelude, five string quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely performed Petroushskates.
Carol Wincenc is an American flutist based in New York City. She is known for her solo and chamber music performances and her support of new music for flute. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
The Flute Concerto is a concerto for flute and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by Richard and Jody Nordlof for flutist Carol Wincenc and by Borders Group for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. It was completed August 15, 1993 and premiered October 27, 1994 at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, with conductor Hans Vonk leading Carol Wincenc and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The piece—specifically the third movement—is dedicated to the memory of James Bulger, an English toddler who was infamously murdered in 1993 by two ten-year-old boys.
The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra in three movements by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was jointly commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony and the violinist Ole Bøhn. It was completed February 26, 1990 in Waccabuc, New York, and was premiered May 2, 1990 in San Francisco, with conductor Herbert Blomstedt leading Bøhn and the San Francisco Symphony. The piece won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
The Percussion Concerto No. 2 is a concerto for solo percussion and orchestra by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. The work was jointly commissioned by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the São Paulo State Symphony. It was first performed on November 7, 2014 at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the Netherlands, by percussionist Colin Currie and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic under conductor James Gaffigan. The composition is MacMillan's second percussion concerto after 1992's Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.
The Concerto for Orchestra is an orchestral composition by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was jointly commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
Silver Ladders is an orchestral composition by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was jointly commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony and Meet the Composer while Tower was composer-in-residence with the St. Louis Symphony. It was first performed in St. Louis on January 9, 1987, by the St. Louis Symphony under the conductor Leonard Slatkin. The piece is dedicated to Slatkin with "admiration for his unswerving musical integrity and confidence in presenting the music of his own time."
The Concerto for Clarinet is a composition for solo clarinet and orchestra by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation for the clarinetist Charles Neidich, to whom the piece is dedicated.
Purple Rhapsody is a viola concerto by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was jointly commissioned by the Omaha Symphony Orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with a grant from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress. It was first performed on November 4, 2005, by the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and the violist Paul Neubauer, to whom the piece is dedicated.
Strike Zones is a concerto for percussion and orchestra by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra through a grant by the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund. It was first performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on October 4, 2001, by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the National Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Leonard Slatkin.
The Flute Concerto is a composition for solo flute and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by Elena Bashkirova for the Jerusalem International Chamber Music. Carter began the composition in September 2007 and completed it in March 2008 at the age of 99. The piece was first performed at the Jerusalem International YMCA on September 9, 2008 by the flutist Emmanuel Pahud and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Ensemble under the conductor Daniel Barenboim.
The Asko Concerto is a concerto for chamber orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the Dutch chamber group Asko Ensemble, for which the piece is titled. It was composed in January 2000 and was first performed in Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on April 26, 2000, by the Asko ensemble under the conductor Oliver Knussen. The piece is dedicated to Asko/Schönberg.
The Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras is a composition by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation and is dedicated to the philanthropist Paul Fromm. It was completed in August 1961 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on September 6, 1961. The premiere was performed by the harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick and the pianist Charles Rosen under the conductor Gustav Meier.
The Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra is a composition for trumpet solo and orchestra by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. The work was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra for its then principal trumpeter John Wallace. It was given its world premiere by Wallace and the Philharmonia Orchestra under the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli in Hiroshima on 21 September 1988.
The Clarinet Concerto is a composition for solo clarinet and orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. It was written for the Finnish clarinetist Kari Kriikku. The piece was given its world premiere in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, on September 14, 2002 by Kari Kriikku and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The composition is one of Lindberg's most frequently performed works.
The Pied Piper Fantasy is a concerto for flute and orchestra by the American composer John Corigliano. The work was commissioned by the flutist James Galway and it is based on the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The piece was given its world premiere by Galway and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the conductor Myung-whun Chung at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on February 4, 1982. In 1993, the critic Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times described it as "one of the best known of modern American concertos."
Two Controversies and a Conversation is a composition for piano, percussion, and chamber orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. Its world premiere was given on June 8, 2012 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by the pianist Eric Huebner and the percussionist Colin Currie with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of David Robertson. The piece is dedicated to Colin Currie and the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. It was one of the last works composed by Carter, who completed the piece at the age of 103.
Totentanz is a composition for baritone, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra by the British composer Thomas Adès. The work was commissioned by Robin Boyle in memory of the composer Witold Lutosławski and of his wife Danuta. Its world premiere was given in the Royal Albert Hall during The Proms on July 17, 2013 and was performed by the baritone Simon Keenlyside, the mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Adès.
The Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra is a composition for oboe solo and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra in honor of their principal oboist John Mack's 25th year with the orchestra. It was first performed by Mack and the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi on January 17, 1991. The piece is dedicated "with affection" to John Mack.
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.