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
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...
to commemorate the ensemble's 40th anniversary. The work was completed in 1985 and first performed at the
St Magnus Festival
The St Magnus International Festival is an annual, week-long arts festival which takes place at midsummer on the islands of Orkney, off the north coast of mainland Scotland.
History and management
The festival was founded in 1977 by a group inc ...
by the violinist
Isaac Stern and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
André Previn
André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...
on 21 June 1986. The piece is dedicated to Isaac Stern.
Composition
Structure
The concerto has a duration of approximately 31 minutes and is cast in three
movements played without break:
#Allegro moderato
#Adagio
#Allegro non troppo
Davies was influenced by
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
's
Violin Concerto in determining the form of his own concerto.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for a solo violinist and an orchestra consisting of two
flutes, two
oboes, two
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
s, two
bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...
s, two
horns, two
trumpets,
timpani, and
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
.
Reception
Reviewing a 1988 recording of the violin concerto,
Arnold Whittall of ''
Gramophone
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
'' wrote, "It offers fewer opportunities for the big, bold gesture, yet it's not—as its cautious Orkney premiere suggested it might be—merely evidence of the mellowing of Max, even of his degeneration into an atonal
Max Bruch. His innate toughness and intensity still register, although here and there—for example, in the first movement
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
—I did wonder whether the nature of the solo instrument, and the conventions of so much earlier virtuoso writing for it, were not getting between the composer and his most personal mode of expression." He continued, "I also remain sceptical about whether 'tonality', as Davies understands it, contributes to the perceptibility and clarity of structure as significantly as the more basic formal divisions. Even so, on each hearing I've found this performance more satisfying and illuminating in its tracing of the way the music cunningly fades in and out of specifically Scottish allusions."
Reviewing the
New York City premiere,
Donal Henahan
Donal Henahan (February 28, 1921 – August 19, 2012) was an American music critic and journalist who had lengthy associations with the ''Chicago Daily News'' and ''The New York Times''. With the ''Times'' he won the annual Pulitzer Prize for ...
of ''
The New York Times'' called it a "moderately dissonant and expertly orchestrated concerto
hatbusied itself chopping up the musical line and working out rhythmic puzzles." He added, "The composer asserts that this score was influenced by Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto -both works are in three movements played without pause, for instance. However, Sir Peter does not make that comparison stick. His compulsion to change meters every bar or two lends his concerto an awkward restlessness that has little in common with the arching melodies of Mendelssohn. This 20th-century fascination with metrical changes is far more typical of
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
, whose mastery of his craft, perhaps not incidentally, stopped well short of melodic genius.
"
See also
*
List of compositions by Peter Maxwell Davies
References
{{Peter Maxwell Davies
Concertos by Peter Maxwell Davies
1985 compositions
Davies 1
Music commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra