Violin Concerto (Grime)

Last updated

Helen Grime's Violin Concerto was written between 2015 and 2016 on a commission from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere was performed by the violinist Malin Broman and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding at Berwald Hall, Stockholm, on 15 December 2016. [1]

Contents

Composition

The concerto has a duration of roughly 20 minutes and is cast in one continuous movement divided into three numbered sections connected by intermezzi. [1]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin and an orchestra consisting of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet), two bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon), two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, two percussionists, harp, celesta, and strings. [1]

Reception

The music journalist Jari Kallio praised the piece as "one of [Grime's] most compelling scores" and predicted that "the concerto is destined to become a repertory item." [2] Fellow music journalist Colin Anderson similarly said that the work "makes an instant impression through energy and attack," describing it as "music that also holds the attention rewardingly." [3] Chris King of The St. Louis American also praised the concerto, writing, "The soloist almost never rested and almost always played at a feverish pitch. Grime wrote only scraps of melody for the other instruments; the brass section played such short lines it was almost used for percussion, and when anyone other than the soloist played as many as 12 notes in a line, it felt like an event." He added that "the music is not ugly, only edgy, unsettled, and unsettling" and that it "ended on a gorgeous note of discord." [4]

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 postmodernist, neoromantic 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 has served as the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esa-Pekka Salonen</span> Finnish conductor and composer (born 1958)

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he announced his resignation from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Sibelius)</span> Concerto in three movements by Jean Sibelius

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.

Leila Bronia Josefowicz is an American-Canadian classical violinist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augusta Read Thomas</span> American composer (born 1964)

Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer and University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago, where she is also director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition.

Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was written in 2008. The work was jointly commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Curtis Institute of Music. It was composed for the violinist Hilary Hahn and was given its world premiere by Hahn and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Mario Venzago on February 6, 2009. The piece was later awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Helen Grime is a Scottish composer of contemporary classical music. Her work, Virga, was selected as one of the best ten new classical works of the 2000s by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

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.

The Violin Concerto is the only violin concerto by the Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. It was finished in 2009 and has become one of Salonen's major works.

The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra in two movements by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned for violinist Cho-Liang Lin by the Aspen Music Festival and School and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was completed August 18, 1991 and is dedicated to Cho-Liang Lin.

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 Violin Concerto No. 3, Juggler in Paradise is a composition for violin solo and orchestra by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas. The work was jointly commissioned by Radio France, The Proms, and the National Symphony Orchestra with contributions from Bill and Solange Brown. It was first performed on January 16, 2009, at the Salle Pleyel, Paris by the violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France under the conductor Andrey Boreyko.

Scheherazade.2 is a dramatic symphony for solo violin and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The work was jointly commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw & the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It was written specifically for the violinist Leila Josefowicz, who performed its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert at Avery Fisher Hall on March 26, 2015.

The Percussion Concerto is a composition for solo percussion and orchestra by the Scottish composer Helen Grime. The work was commissioned by the Southbank Centre, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. It was first performed by the percussionist Colin Currie and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 16 January 2019.

Missy Mazzoli's Violin Concerto (Procession) was composed in 2021 for the violinist Jennifer Koh on a commission from the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Radio 3, with support by ARCO Collaborative. Its world premiere was given by Koh and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gemma New at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on February 3, 2022.

Trumpet Concerto, night-sky-blue, is a concerto for trumpet and orchestra written in 2022 by the Scottish composer Helen Grime. The work was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by the trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by François-Xavier Roth at the Barbican Centre, London, on 3 April 2022.

The Violin Concerto No. 2, Scherben der Stille , is the second violin concerto by the Korean composer Unsuk Chin. It was written for the violinist Leonidas Kavakos in 2021 on a joint commission from the London Symphony Orchestra supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Boston Symphony Orchestra supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council's New Works Fund, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The piece was given its world premiere by Kavakos and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle at the Barbican Centre, London, on January 6, 2022.

Virga is a short orchestral composition written in 2007 by the Scottish composer Helen Grime. The work was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra in partnership with UBS, as part of the UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers series. The piece was given its world premiere by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier at the Barbican Centre, London, on 1 July 2007. In 2010, Virga was selected by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as one of the ten best new classical works of the 2000s.

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.

Hans Abrahamsen's Concerto for Horn and Orchestra was composed between 2018 and 2019 on a commission from the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and co-commissions from the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the NTR Zaterdag Matinee, the Seattle Symphony, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. The world premiere was given by the Berlin Philharmonic and their principal horn player Stefan Dohr conducted by Paavo Järvi at the Berliner Philharmonie on 29 January 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Grime, Helen (2016). "Violin Concerto". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Kallio, Jari (4 December 2022). "Outstanding concerto triple-bill from Leila Josefowicz, Dalia Stasevska and the Lahti Symphony". AIM – Adventures in Music. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Colin (22 May 2023). "Detroit Symphony Orchestra – Daníel Bjarnason conducts his own Blow bright & Mendelssohn's 'Scottish' Symphony, with Leila Josefowicz playing Helen Grime's Violin Concerto. Live DSO webcast". Colin's Column. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  4. ↑ King, Chris (11 November 2022). "SLSO, guest conductor offer fresh, edgy program". The St. Louis American . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
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.