Violin Concerto

 

From the composer: The Violin Concerto was commissioned by the Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.), the Lancaster (Pa.) Symphony, and the Louisville Orchestra for the violinist Mark Pesnakov. The piece evolved over a number of years. I wrote the first movement as an independent composition for violin and piano a year before the concerto was commissioned. I decided to use it as the first movement of the concerto. After a dramatic beginning, there come a series of dances which are interrupted by a little, plaintive blues motive. A wild frenzy of descending half steps bring the movement to a somewhat cacophonous, multi-keyed conclusion. The second movement is a free transcription of a choral composition which I thought might work better as an instrumental because of its frequent, sudden and distant modulations. After its numerous wanderings, the movement settles quietly on a final C major triad. The most classical structured movement of the concerto is the Rondo. Many of the themes of the early movements return in this movement, and it has even more of a blues flavoring in it than the first movement. If I were to characterize the three movements, I would label the first as frenetic and a bit twisted, the second as somewhat solemn, and the third as playful, and good natured right down to its wink of the eye disappearance.