Concerto

Michael Tippett’s Piano Concerto: Poetic Music Born of Beethoven

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The inspiration for Sir Michael Tippett’s Piano Concerto came in a single moment in 1950. The occasion was a rehearsal of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Walter Gieseking as soloist. Recalling this “precise moment of conception,” the English composer commented, “Under the influence of an exceptionally poetic yet classical performance of the Beethoven movement, I found myself persuaded that a contemporary concerto might be written, in which the piano is used once …

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Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto: A Continuous, Cyclic Drama

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From its opening bars, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 defies convention. We are denied the expansive orchestral introduction which traditionally sets the stage for the entrance of the soloist. Instead, the Concerto is launched into motion with a single A minor chord which lands as a vigorous, attention-grabbing punch. The solo cello enters immediately and sweeps us forward, breathlessly, with the rhapsodic and tempestuous main theme. …

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Prokofiev’s Fifth Piano Concerto: A Quirky Drama With a Mind of Its Own

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Usually, we assume that, when writing a piece of music, the composer is firmly in control of the process as musical ideas are organized, refined, and developed. Yet, on occasion, the music seemingly comes alive, takes on a mind of its own, and dictates to the composer what it wants to be. This was Sergei Prokofiev’s experience when composing the Piano Concerto No. 5 in G Major, Op. 55. “Having accumulated a …

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Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major: David Oistrakh in Concert in 1968

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Mozart’s earliest childhood performances as a violinist were recounted humorously by Johann Andreas Schachtner. In a 1792 letter to Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna, or “Nannerl,” Schachtner, a close friend of the family, recalled an occasion when he was invited to play second violin for an informal chamber music session at the Mozart house. Little Wolfgang asked to be allowed to play second violin. As he hadn’t had any lessons yet, your Papa …

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Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor, RV 580: Dramatic Innovations

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The world of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was marked by dramatic innovation. In the Italian city of Cremona, just over a hundred miles from Vivaldi’s native Venice, instrument builders such as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri were elevating the violin, tonally, to previously unimaginable heights. At the same time, Vivaldi, perhaps the world’s first rock star, captivated listeners with such blazing violinistic virtuosity that one witness described his playing as “terrifying.” Through techniques …

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Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto: Sardonic and Defiant

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In his later years, the cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, recalled a conversation that he had with Nina Vasilyevna, the wife of Dmitri Shostakovich. Rostropovich wondered what he could do to encourage Shostakovich to write a concerto for the cello. “Slava,” she answered, “if you want Dmitri Dmitriyevich to write something for you, the only recipe I can give you is this—never ask him or talk to him about it.” Eventually, in July of …

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Remembering André Watts

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André Watts, the celebrated American pianist, has passed away following a battle with prostate cancer. He was 77. At the age of 16, Watts made his national debut, performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic as part of a nationally televised Young People’s Concert. Soon after, Bernstein invited Watts to perform on one of the orchestra’s subscription programs, where he substituted for an …

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