Concerto

Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major: A Thrilling Technical Experiment

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When Franz Joseph Haydn composed his Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major in 1796, he was at the forefront of a thrilling new technical experiment. Traditionally, the valveless natural trumpet was limited to the pitches of the overtone series. In the lower register, these pitches amounted to bugle call notes. In classical symphonies, trumpets were used sparingly to punctuate climaxes with celebratory fanfares. Only in its highest register could the natural trumpet access …

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Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor: Rich and Seductive

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In the pantheon of composers, German Romanticist Max Bruch may not be a household name. But Bruch contributed several enduring works, including the spirited Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra, the Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra, and the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26. The Violin Concerto is firmly rooted as a standard work in the violin repertoire, and has been ranked by audiences among the most beloved …

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Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto: A Musical Affirmation

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For three years, following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninov was unable to compose. “I believed I had opened up entirely new paths,” Rachmaninov later recalled. At the work’s premiere in St. Petersburg on March 28, 1897, the 23-year-old composer hid in a backstage fire escape with his ears plugged as a possibly drunk Alexander Glazunov led the underrehearsed orchestra through a passionless reading. The audience reacted with catcalls, …

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Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: An Homage to Bach and the Country Fiddler

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In Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (“Concerto Accademico”), vibrant neoclassical counterpoint meets the sunny strains of an English country fiddler. Completed in 1925, the Concerto was dedicated to the Hungarian violinist, Jelly d’Aranyi, who gave the premiere with Anthony Bernard and the London Chamber Orchestra on November 6, 1925. Initially, the work was called “Concerto Accademico,” but Vaughan Williams came to dislike the title and withdrew it prior …

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Shunske Sato Plays Vivaldi: “Summer” from “The Four Seasons”

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Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) is one of the earliest and most iconic examples of programmatic music. Vivaldi composed the collection of four violin concerti, each depicting a season of the year, during his tenure as music director at the court chapel of Mantua. Together with eight additional concerti, the works were published in Amsterdam in 1725 under the enticing title, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The Contest Between Harmony and …

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Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major: A Magical Operatic Drama

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Mozart wrote six piano concerti in 1784. Each distinct in atmosphere, they served as dazzling vehicles to highlight the composer’s skill as one of Vienna’s superstar keyboard players. Among these works, Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453 has a special story. Mozart wrote it for his beloved student, Barbara (“Babette”) Ployer, the teenage niece of an adviser to the Salzburg imperial court, who lived outside of Vienna. Proudly, he …

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Jennifer Higdon’s Oboe Concerto: Majesty, Beauty, and Grace

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Regarding her Oboe Concerto, composed in 2005, American composer Jennifer Higdon writes, “I have always thought of the oboe as being a most majestic instrument, and it was a pleasure to be able to create a work that would highlight its beauty and grace.” Unfolding in a single movement, the Concerto begins with the nostalgic, pastoral voice of the solo oboe, emerging on an extended B-flat over a serene, searching chorale in …

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