Viola Concerto (Harbison)

Last updated

The Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a viola concerto by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra with contributions from Meet The Composer and Reader's Digest . It was first performed by Jaime Laredo and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Hugh Wolff on May 18, 1990. [1] [2]

Contents

Composition

Background

Harbison had an early interest in the viola, describing it as his "instrument of choice" as a child. He later wrote in score program notes, "It had a commanding awkward size, a somewhat veiled slightly melancholic tone quality, and it seemed always in the middle of things, a good vantage point for a composer (which I already wanted to be)." However, Harbison was instructed to start on the violin due to the instrument's smaller size. He recalled, "When it was clear I would never have large hands I insisted on switching [to viola] anyway and my first summer as a violist was spent in an informal chamber music group playing Haydn quartets. That summer in Princeton New Jersey I remember as my happiest, the company of my friend John Sessions in the quartet, the wonderful music we were exploring, and the rich possibilities of the instrument I had always wanted to play." Harbison said he "never became an outstanding violist," but remarked, "When it came to writing a concerto for viola I wrote for the violist I never was, the true soloist, and for the instrumental timbres I felt to be most typical of the instrument, its tenor and alto voice, rather than its rather unnatural treble." [1]

The composer further described the concerto, saying, "The piece moves from inwardness to ebullience and from ambiguous and shifting harmonic language to a kind of tonality. Within this broad scenario there was room for the kind of paradoxes I enjoy: a first movement in which nothing seems capable of repetition followed by one with literal repeats, a third movement of great formal and metrical simplicity followed by a finale filled with intricate metrical modulations." [1]

Structure

The concerto has a duration of approximately 20 minutes and is composed in four movements:

  1. Con moto, rubato
  2. Allegro brillante
  3. Andante
  4. Molto allegro, gioioso

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a solo viola and an orchestra consisting of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), two oboes (2nd doubling English horn), clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon), two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, and strings. [1]

Reception

The viola concerto has been praised by music critics. Reviewing the world premiere, James R. Oestreich of The New York Times wrote:

The quick movements, especially the dynamic second and the skittish fourth, are taut and gripping. The Adagio third movement - Mr. Harbison's paean to the viola, perhaps - is moving in a central hymnlike episode, but eventually the soloist's peregrinations come to seem a bit indulgent. The finale appealingly stands Stravinsky on his head, as a brittle, polished Neo-Classical manner becomes increasingly overrun by rough rhythmic interjections until in the end the primitivist of Sacre du Printemps emerges. [3]

Andrew Farach-Colton of Gramophone compared the work favorably to Walter Piston's Viola Concerto, writing, "Harbison's Concerto is if anything even darker in mood, though it's more luminously scored." He added, "The first movement has an improvisatory air (note, for example, the spontaneous-sounding chirping of woodwinds that accompany the viola's opening solo) that stands in stark contrast with the obsessive character of the brief scherzo-like movement that follows. The composer writes that the concerto 'moves from inwardness to ebullience and from an ambiguous and shifting harmonic language to tonality' – a dramatic structure similar to Piston's." [4] In 2009, the music Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said the piece "doesn't get the attention it deserves." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola</span> Bowed string instrument

The viola ( vee-OH-lə, Italian:[ˈvjɔːla,viˈɔːla]) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth higher) and the cello (which is tuned an octave lower). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to C3, G3, D4, and A4.

Although a concerto is usually a piece of music for one or more solo instruments accompanied by a full orchestra, several composers have written works with the apparently contradictory title Concerto for Orchestra. This title is usually chosen to emphasise soloistic and virtuosic treatment of various individual instruments or sections in the orchestra, with emphasis on instruments changing during the piece. It differs from sinfonia concertante in that it has no soloist or group of soloists that remains the same throughout the composition.

<i>Brandenburg Concertos</i> Collection of six works by Johann Sebastian Bach

The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721. The original French title is Six Concerts Avec plusieurs instruments, meaning "Six Concertos for several instruments". Some of the pieces feature several solo instruments in combination. They are widely regarded as some of the greatest orchestral compositions of the Baroque era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Piston</span> American composer (1894–1976)

Walter Hamor Piston, Jr., was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University.

John Harris Harbison is an American composer and academic.

The Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E♭ major, K. 364 (320d), was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola concerto</span>

A viola concerto is a concerto contrasting a viola with another body of musical instruments such as an orchestra or chamber music ensemble. Throughout music history, especially during the Baroque, Classical, Romantic eras, viola was viewed mostly as an ensemble instrument. Though there were a few notable concertos written for the instrument in this time period, these instances were quite rare and the instrument continued to be ignored. However, during the 20th century, the instrument was revitalized thanks to the work of a number of violists and composers, which led to the commission and composition of many more viola concertos, expanding the repertoire significantly.

The Viola Concerto by William Walton was written in 1929 and first performed at the Queen's Hall, London on 3 October of that year by Paul Hindemith as soloist and the composer conducting. It had been written with the violist Lionel Tertis in mind, and he took the work up after initially rejecting it. The concerto established Walton as a substantial figure in British music and has been recorded by leading violists internationally. Walton revised the instrumentation of the concerto in 1961, lightening the orchestral textures.

The Quintet in A minor for Piano and String Quartet, Op. 84 is a chamber work by Edward Elgar.

Vladimir Romanovich Bakaleinikov, also Bakaleynikov and Bakaleinikoff was a Russian-American violist, music educator, conductor and composer.

The Second Concerto for Orchestra is a concerto for orchestra by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic while Stucky was their composer-in-residence for the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was completed in 2003 and was first performed on March 12, 2004, with the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The piece was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

The Symphony No. 22, Op. 236, City of Light is a four-movement symphony for orchestra by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the centennial of Birmingham, Alabama and was completed in 1970. The work has been recorded multiple times and remains one of Hovhaness's more popular compositions.

<i>Concert de Gaudí</i> Grammy award winning concerto for guitar and orchestra by Christopher Rouse

Concert de Gaudí is a concerto for classical guitar and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the guitarist Sharon Isbin, with additional contributions from Richard and Jody Nordlof, to whom the piece is dedicated. It was completed August 1, 1999 and premiered in Hamburg, January 2, 2000, with Isbin and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchester led by conductor Christoph Eschenbach. The piece was later awarded the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

The Symphony No. 3 is a composition for orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. The work was first performed by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein at Carnegie Hall on April 16, 1959.

The Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 39, is the second piano concerto by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Hilde Somer, to whom the concerto is dedicated. It was first performed by Somer and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Izler Solomon on March 22, 1973.

The Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a musical composition for viola and orchestra by the American composer Walter Piston. The work was written in 1957 for the violist Joseph de Pasquale, who first performed the piece with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on March 7, 1958.

The Violin Concerto No. 1 is the first violin concerto by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. It was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to commemorate the ensemble's 40th anniversary. The work was completed in 1985 and first performed at the St Magnus Festival by the violinist Isaac Stern and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by André Previn on 21 June 1986. The piece is dedicated to Isaac Stern.

Alfred Schnittke composed his Concerto Grosso No. 3 for two violins, harpsichord, piano, and celesta in 1985.

Aaron Jay Kernis's Viola Concerto was composed between 2013 and 2014 for the violist Paul Neubauer on a commission from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by Neubauer and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roberto Abbado in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on April 24, 2014. The score is dedicated to Neubauer "with deepest admiration."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto (Ichmouratov)</span> Piano concerto

The Piano Concerto, Op. 40, is a work for piano and orchestra completed by Airat Ichmouratov between 2012 and 2013. Composition remained untouched for a span of ten years until the composer crossed paths with a soloist, Montreal-based pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre. Sylvestre's keen enthusiasm for performing the concerto, coupled with his ability to "do it justice and add finishing touches," as described by the composer, led to the revival of the piece. The Piano Concerto was recorded by Chandos on April 19–20, 2022, at St. Luke's in London, with Jean-Philippe Sylvestre as the soloist and the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer. Its first public performance took place on May 1, 2024, at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, with Sylvestre as the soloist, accompanied by the Quebec Symphony Orchestra under Ichmouratov.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Harbison, John (1988). "Concerto for Viola". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ Valdes, Lesley (May 11, 1990). "An Abundance Of Premieres Including 2 Viola Concertos". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ Oestreich, James R. (May 25, 1990). "Review/Music; A New Jersey Homecoming". The New York Times . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  4. ↑ Farach-Colton, Andrew (July 2003). "Adler; Harbison; Piston Viola Concertos". Gramophone . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  5. ↑ Swed, Mark (November 1, 2009). "The viola sings out". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.