Walton violin concerto kyung wha chung lp korea

The opening presto requires extreme virtuosity from the soloist вЂ“ Palmer points to harmonics followed by pizzicati in a fast-moving two-in-a-bar). Unlike the first movement, its key is not clear from the outset, and remains ambiguous in the fast-moving sections. Presto capriccioso alla napolitana: The second movement is the concerto's scherzo and trio. The opening theme, marked 'sognando' вЂ“ dreamily вЂ“ is developed in a variety of moods (the analyst Christopher Palmer calls them 'an extraordinary number of personality changes') before a written cadenza, and a concluding recapitulation of the opening melody, with brief reappearances of the secondary theme. The movement is not in strict sonata form but does not depart markedly from it, and the second subject is a quiet and flowing melody for strings and woodwind. The solo violin launches straight into the main theme after a brief rhymical orchestral opening which pervades the whole movement. It is predominantly lyrical and in an unambiguous B minor. Andante tranquillo: As in Walton's earlier Viola Concerto, the first movement is the slowest of the three. The original instrumentation also included bass drum, castanets, glockenspiel and gong. The revised version is scored for violin solo 2 flutes (second doubling piccolo) 2 oboes (second doubling cor anglais) 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets in B-flat 3 trombones timpani 2 percussion (side drum cymbals tambourine xylophone) harp and strings. The concerto takes about thirty minutes in performance. This revised version was first performed on 17 January 1944, in Wolverhampton, by Holst and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Walton later revised the orchestration, in particular reducing the number of percussion instruments. In November 1941, at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Walton conducted the first British performance, with the soloist Henry Holst, former leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, who had settled in England. The contract between composer and soloist gave Heifetz the exclusive rights to the concerto for two years, but as he could not travel to Britain he waived them to allow the work to be given there.

Walton could not travel to the US, and the world premiere of the concerto was given by Heifetz and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Artur RodziЕ„ski on 7 December 1939. The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 forced Heifetz and Walton to abandon their plans.

It was agreed that he should premiere the work in Boston, with Walton conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and then, after several more performances in the US, Heifetz would give the British premiere in London in March 1940. The British Council hoped to present the premiere of the concerto during the 1939 New York World's Fair, along with new works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss and Arnold Bax given during the event, but Heifetz was otherwise committed on the proposed date of the concert. In mid-1939 he visited Heifetz in New York to work on the piece together, incorporating the violinist's suggestions for making the solo part as effective as possible. During the course of composition he was bitten by a tarantula and marked the incident by incorporating a tarantella into the work in a passage he called 'quite gaga, I may say, and of doubtful propriety'. After meeting Heifetz in London, Walton accepted a commission for a concerto, but he did not begin work on the piece until early 1938, when he went with his partner, Alice Wimborne, to Ravello, where he worked on the concerto for several months.

In 1936 William Walton had established a position among the leading British composers of the day, but he was a slow and far from prolific worker and in that year he felt obliged to choose between accepting a commission from Jascha Heifetz or one from Joseph Szigeti and Benny Goodman, who wanted a work for violin and clarinet.

Walton violin concerto kyung wha chung lp korea