I. Allegro
II. Andantino. Moderato
III. Andante giocoso

From Vivaldi to Tartini to Paganini, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra fascinated Italian composers for a very long time. Partly because they were amused by the nature of the instrument – demoniac, extreme and downright seductive as it is – partly, I think, because they, my colleagues of the past, found a fortunate consonance between the luminous sound of the violin and the colours of the Italian landscape, from the blue of the North to the orange of the Centre to the yellow and white of the South. So the fact that they could multiply and “amplify” the phrases of the violin, and make it converse with the rest of the orchestra, was a source of irresistible seduction for them.

Then came Tchaikovsky’s Concerto per violin and Orchestra and in a certain sense everything changed: the violin became an ambassador of sweetness and languor, and even at the most exciting, unbridled moments, the sound of the instrument yielded to new and different expressive needs. In a certain sense, with Tchaikowsky the violin found new colours (red? purple?), and this is how we have listened to it over the last century and a half.

When I was commissioned to write this Concerto for Violin and Orchestra of mine, I couldn’t help reflecting on these transformations. And though I adore Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky, I realised that I had somewhat different colours, new combinations and new challenges in mind. This, after all, is the sense of the composer’s job: opening one’s ears, exploring the present, gathering the ideas that surround one and attempting to transform them into music.

Browse the score on Issuu.

Photo: Dmitrij Matvejev. Courtesy Lithuanian National Philharmonic.

Photo: Andrea Ranzi. Courtesy Fondazione Musica Insieme Bologna.

solo vl – str

Alternative version, for full orchestra:
solo vl – 2.2.2.2 – 2.2.0.0 – perc (1) – str
MM 2311119

Duration 15′

Commission
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra

World Premiere
June 19, 2022
Vilnius (Lithuania)
Vilnius Chamber Orchestra
Sergej Krylov (vl and cond)

Published by
Breitkopf & Härtel
MM 2311120