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Violin Concerto (Britten)

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Violin Concerto
by Benjamin Britten
Opus15
Composed1938 (1938)–39, revised three times
DedicationHenry Boys
Performed29 March 1940 (1940-03-29) New York City
Movements3

Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, Op. 15, was written from 1938 to 1939 and dedicated to Henry Boys, his former teacher at the Royal College of Music.[1] Britten worked on it while staying with Aaron Copland and completed it in Quebec.[2] It was premiered in New York on 29 March 1940 by the Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa with the New York Philharmonic conducted by John Barbirolli. A year after its first performance in New York, the concerto was performed for the first time in England at Queen’s Hall on 6 April 1941. It was conducted by Basil Cameron, and the soloist was Thomas Matthews, leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.[3] It received its first broadcast performance with the BBC Orchestra, conducted by Clarence Raybould and Thomas Matthews as soloist, on 28 April 1941.[4]

Revisions

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Britten revised the concerto in 1950, 1954, and 1965.[2]

The first revision, including alterations of the solo violin part prepared with the assistance of Manoug Parikian, was performed by Bronislav Gimpel and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Beecham in 1951.[5]

Britten wrote to Albert Goldberg in October 1950, saying:[2]

It was written in 1939, & although it has been played quite a lot here & abroad I have never been happy about the form of it... The fact that Heifetz was going to play the work spurred me on to looking [at] it again from this point of view, & that I have just done. There is no structural change in the work – a shortening here & a rewriting there is all I've done. There is no new material at all, although a complete rewriting of a violin passage in the last movement is a new development of existing stuff. The cadenza is shortened, & a rather embarrassing chord for orchestra in the middle of it is removed. I hope what I have done is to leave the work as it would have been had I been able to write it in 1939 with my present experience. I think I bit off then a bit more than I could chew! – especially in the last movement.

Instrumentation

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The concerto is scored for solo violin and an orchestra of three flutes (second and third flutes doubling piccolo), two oboes (second oboe doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, side drum, tenor drum), harp and strings.

Structure

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The concerto is written in three movements:

  1. Moderato con moto – Agitato – Tempo primo
  2. Vivace – Animando – Largamente – Cadenza
  3. Passacaglia: Andante lento (Un poco meno mosso)

This form, although in three movements, is highly unlike that of concertos from the Classical and Romantic eras. First used in the First Violin Concerto of Sergei Prokofiev, this design is also evident in the concertos of William Walton and later in Shostakovich's first violin concerto, that has a structure that clearly recalls Britten's concerto.[citation needed]

A typical performance lasts around 33 minutes.[2]

Analysis

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The work opens with a series of timpani strokes, a reminder perhaps of Beethoven's 1806 Violin Concerto. The rhythm is taken up by the bassoon and other instruments, persisting as an ostinato throughout the entire work. The violin enters with a song-like lament, soaring above the orchestra. The music is soon interrupted by a more militaristic and percussive secondary theme.

The ensuing second movement, cast as a wild, moto perpetuo scherzo, unmistakably recalls Prokofiev. The movement culminates in an impressive cadenza which, while recalling musical material from both the first and second movements, acts as an organic link straight into the finale.

As the finale, Britten uses a passacaglia: a set of variations on a ground bass, in the tradition of the Baroque chaconnes by Purcell and Bach. The ground bass, tonally unstable, is initially introduced by the trombone, as the violin recalls its lyrical theme from the first movement. Individual variations unfold, taking up characters of song, dance, capriccio and march. By the end, the ground bass is reduced to chant-like reminiscences; the orchestra leaves hints of an unmistakable D major chord, while the soloist is left undecided in a trill between the notes F-natural and G-flat.[6]

Discography

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Year Soloist Conductor
Orchestra
Format: Record label
Catalogue number
1948 Theo Olof [nl; fr] John Barbirolli,
Hallé Orchestra (World Premiere Recording 1948, Original Version)
CD: EMI (7243 5 66053 2 9)
Publication date: 1997
1952 Antonio Brosa Ian Whyte,
BBC Scottish Orchestra (9 April 1952)
LP: Stereo Records & Tapes
Cat: SRT/Custom 009
(private release)
1964 Nora Grumlíková [cs] Peter Maag,
Prague Symphony Orchestra (1964)
CD: Supraphon
Cat: 1106532 (1991)
1970s Ruggiero Ricci G.Brott,
SWF Sinfonie Orchester
(live – doubtful venue, conductor and orchestra)
CD: One-Eleven
Cat: EPR-96020 (1996)
1970 Mark Lubotsky Benjamin Britten,
English Chamber Orchestra
CD: Decca
Cat: 417 308-2
1974 Rodney Friend John Pritchard,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
LP: EMI
Cat: CFP 40250
1977 Ida Haendel Paavo Berglund,
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
LP: EMI
Cat: ASD 3483
1981 Boris Gutnikov Aleksandr Dmitriyev,
Leningrad Academic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
LP: Melodiya
Cat: С10-16521-2
1990 Lorraine McAslan Steuart Bedford,
English Chamber Orchestra (Recorded Oct. 1989)
CD: Collins Classics
Cat: B0000264EZ
1996 Serguei Azizian Osmo Vänskä,
Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra
CD: Alto
Cat: BAX3661 (2013)
1997 Rebecca Hirsch Takuo Yuasa,
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
CD: Naxos
Cat: 8.553882
2001 Lydia Mordkovitch Richard Hickox,
BBC Symphony Orchestra
CD: Chandos
Cat: CHAN 9910
2003 Maxim Vengerov Mstislav Rostropovich,
London Symphony Orchestra
CD: EMI Classics
Cat: 0724355751027
2004 Frank Peter Zimmermann Manfred Honeck,
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
CD: Sony
Cat: S70316C 88697439992
2005 Daniel Hope Paul Watkins,
BBC Symphony Orchestra
CD: Warner Classics
Cat: 2564-60291-2
2009 Janine Jansen Paavo Järvi,
London Symphony Orchestra
CD: Decca
Cat: 000289 478 1530 3
2011 Wanda Wiłkomirska Witold Rowicki,
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
CD: Orchestral Concert CDs
Cat: CD12/2011
2012 Anthony Marwood Ilan Volkov,
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
CD: Hyperion
Cat: CDA67801
2013 James Ehnes Kirill Karabits,
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
CD: Onyx
Cat: BBX2835 (2012)
2013 Tasmin Little Edward Gardner,
BBC Philharmonic
CD: Chandos
Cat: CHAN10764
2014 Gil Shaham Juanjo Mena,
Boston Symphony Orchestra
CD: Canary Classics
Cat: CC12[7]
2014 Linus Roth Mihkel Kütson,
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
CD/SACD: Challenge Classics
Cat: CC 72627
2016 Vilde Frang James Gaffigan,
hr-Sinfonieorchester
CD: Warner Classics
Cat: 0825646009213
2017 Arabella Steinbacher Vladimir Jurowski,
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
CD/SACD: Pentatone
Cat: PTC 5186625
2022 Augustin Hadelich Cristian Măcelaru,
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
CD: Warner Classics
Cat: 9029631076
2023 Kerson Leong Patrick Hahn,
Philharmonia Orchestra
CD: Alpha Classics
Cat: ALPHA946
2024 Baiba Skride Marin Alsop,
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
CD: Orfeo
Cat: C220021
2024 Isabelle Faust Jakub Hrůša,
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
CD: harmonia mundi
Cat: HMM 902668

References

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  1. ^ Henry Boys – Musician, teacher, writer on music
  2. ^ a b c d "Violin Concerto (Benjamin Britten)". LA Phil. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  3. ^ "New Violin Concerto". Liverpool Daily Post. 7 April 1941. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Home Service". Staffordshire Sentinel. 28 April 1941. p. 4.
  5. ^ Richards, Denby (12 October 1951). "Music Review: Royal Philharmonic Society". Kensington News and West London Times. p. 2.
  6. ^ Paul Kildea, ed. (2008). Britten on Music, p. 365. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  7. ^ 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 1, 2-CD set, Canary Classics
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