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   Violin Concertos

Eduard Franck
(1817-1893)

Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 57 (1860)
Symphony in B Flat Major, Op. 52 (1856)

Christiane Edinger, violin
Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra/Hans-Peter Frank
Audite 20.034 60:04

Eduard Franck was a German composer who was unrelated to the Belgian César Franck. The concerto has many similarities to Beethoven's, and the symphony has more than a trace of Mendelssohn and Schumann. Both works make an enjoyable change from some perhaps too familiar works of the period. The same artists perform the Violin Concerto, Op. 30, and the Symphony in A Major, Op. 47, on a Fermate CD (FER20025) which appears to have been deleted but which some web searching might find.

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Yngve Sköld
(1899-1992)

Symphony #2, Op. 36 (1937)
Violin Concerto, Op. 40 (1941)

Tobias Ringborg, violin
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Tuomas Olula
Phono Suecia PSCD719 65:38

The Swedish composer Sköld displays a variety of moods and influences in these two works. The symphony has echoes of Sibelius without sounding particularly like him, and such composers as Elgar and possibly Barber appear fleetingly. The concerto is indebted to those by Szymanowski, but the finale has an almost jokey quality. This label, devoted to Swedish composers, has some interesting music which has mostly been otherwise unrecorded.

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Lee Actor
(b. 1952)

Violin Concerto (2005)
Symphony #2 (2006)
Timpani Concerto (2005)

Pip Clarke, violin
Stuart Chafetz, timpani
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Kirk Trevor
Albany TROY1017 67:11

One of the advantages of the internet is the ability to be able to sample music before buying it: for many, perhaps, the recent dates of the works on this CD would be an immediate turn-off. Although timpani concertos are not for everyone – and this one is the shortest of the three pieces – the other two works have much to recommend them. The symphony has a variety of moods ranging from the bleak to the jovial as in Shostakovich's 9^th symphony. The violin concerto in many ways reminds me of Britten's. Actor is yet another American composer to watch.

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George Frederick McKay
(1899-1970)

Violin Concerto (1940) 26:01
Sinfonietta #4 (1942) 17:46
Song Over The Great Plains (1953) 13:59
Suite on Sixteenth Century Hymn Tunes (1962) 20:32

Brian Reagin, Violin
National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine/John McLaughlin Williams
Naxos 8.559225

In a non-pejorative sense, the movie music we associate with "cowboy," travel and nature films of Western America owe much to this composer. His expansive style and evocative musical picture-painting can be heard most clearly in the "Song Over The Great Plains", an orchestral piece with solo piano commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Although McKay wrote programs to accompany some of his music, and noted that the song of a meadow-lark inspired this particular piece, the music can be enjoyed fully even without explanations.

Naxos has released three other CDs of the music of McKay in their American Classics series: 8.559143, 8.559052, 8.559330. All are well worth exploring.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Carl Ruggles
(1876-1971)

Sun-treader (1926-31)

William Schuman
(1910-1992)

Violin Concerto (1959) ¹

Walter Piston
(1894-1976)

Symphony #2 (1943)

¹ Paul Zukofsky, violin
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
Deutshe Grammophon 429860-2 74:43

Ruggles' music is not easy to love but even if you find it not to your taste, the rest of the CD will more than make up for it. The Schuman Violin Concerto is variously anguished, calm, strident, lyrical, violent, and similar in many ways to the first Shostakovich Violin Concerto. There are other recordings if you can't find this one. Less often recorded is the Piston symphony, in three movements, at whose heart is an adagio which is unmistakably American. For my money, it's Piston's best symphony. The performances are exemplary.

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George Dyson
(1883-1964)

Violin Concerto
Children's Suite after Walter De La Mare

Lydia Mordkovich, violin
City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox
Chandos CHAN9369 62:23

Although written in 1942, this beautiful violin concerto would make lovers of Elgar and Stanford very happy with its lyrical style and noble spirit. Dyson's concerto has four movements, instead of the usual three. It opens with a very introspective first movement that seems initially like a symphony with violin accompaniment. The second movement is a jolly jig, followed by a very somber third movement, song-like in its orchestral introduction and carried through in the solo part. The last movement is a joyous, lighthearted dance. It leaves the listener in good spirits.

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  Reissued as part of CHAN10337: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe]

[ Sheet music by Dyson: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Eric Ewazen
(b. 1954)

Concerto for Violin & Strings (2000) ¹
Concerto for Oboe & Strings "Down a River of Time" (1999) ²
Sinfonia for Strings (2001)

¹ Adele Anthony, violin
² Linda Strommen, oboe
International Sejong Soloists/Hyo Kang
Albany TROY577 64:27

Listening to this as a blindfold test, you might consider Vaughan Williams or a less well-known English composer such as Howells or Rubbra, or occasionally John Adams, or even Thomas Newman. Ewazen was born in Cleveland and on the evidence of this CD, writes extremely approachable music with passages of great beauty, which is a good enough reason for checking this out.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Howard Blake
(b. 1938)

Violin Concerto, "The Leeds" (1992)
A Month in the Country-Suite for Strings (1986/1993)
Sinfonietta for Ten Brass Instruments (1981)

Christiane Edinger, violin
English Northern Philharmonia/Paul Daniel
Academy Sound & Vision CDDCA905 62:40

The violin concerto is an immediately likeable work with some exhilarating violin writing and orchestration. A Month in the Country uses material from a film score and there are echoes of Vaughan Williams in Tallis Fantasia mode and Britten's Frank Bridge Variations. The sinfonietta is edgier music, giving plenty of opportunity for the individual players.

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Ilja Hurnik (b.1922)
Four Seasons-Chamber Suite (1952)
Ondráš-Ballet Music (1951)

Jan Kapr (1914-1988)
In the Soviet Country-Cantata (1950) ³

Julius Kalaš (1902-1967)
The Nightingale and the Rose (1956)

Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006)
Violin Concerto #1 (1958-59) ⁴

Jan Seidel (1908-1998)
Oboe Concerto #2 (1955) ⁵

Ivan Jirko (1926-1978)
Piano Concerto #3 (1958) ⁶

Petr Eben (1929-2007)
Piano Concerto (1961) ⁷

Pavel Bořkovec (1894-1972)
Symphony #2 (1955)

Václav Dobiáš (1909-1978)
Build Up Your Country to Reinforce the Peace-Cantata (1947) ²

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946) ¹

¹ Eric Schilling, narrator
² Jan Soumar, baritone
⁴ Václav Snítil, violin
⁵ Josef Shejbal, oboe
⁶ Viktorie Švihlíková, piano
⁷ František Rauch, piano
² Prague Philharmonic Choir
² Kühn Children's Choir
³ Prague Radio Choir
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Karel Ančerl
Supraphon SU3944-2 4CDs 258:17

Volume 43 of the Karel Ančerl Gold Edition apparently collects a number of short works left over from the mainly single-CD releases which make up the rest of the series. Apart from the Britten, the remaining works are by composers of what was then Czechoslovakia, Ančerl having left his homeland for Canada in 1968, the year of the Soviet suppression of the Prague Spring. This set gives an interesting insight into the sort of music being written during the fifteen or so years after the war.

Most of the music is upbeat, some even jaunty. The two vocal works remind me of such pieces as Prokofiev's Summer Day, but the words are best avoided! Of the concertos, the standout for me is the Kalabis, but all are worth getting to know. Some of the recordings are in mono but the transfers have been very well done. The set is attractively priced. Recommended for those who like to explore the byways of the byways.

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Antonín Dvořák
(1841-1904)

Mazurka for Violin & Orchestra
Rondo for Cello & Orchestra
Seven Interludes for Small Orchestra
Silent Woods for Cello & Orchestra
Polonaise in E Flat Major
Nocturne in B Major
American Suite
Five Prague Waltzes
Polka in B Flat Major

Dmitry Yablonsky, cello
Alexander Trostianski, violin
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry Yablonsky
Naxos 8.557352 78:42

This is a generous collection of some of Dvořák's shorter pieces, some of which do not lack other recordings. The American Suite is not as well-known as the Czech Suite, but certainly deserves to be. The real rarity is the Seven Interludes, which run about 23 minutes, and give some pointers towards his early symphonies. A very useful compendium.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]