The Violin Concerto is a composition for solo

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

by the American composer

Ned Rorem Ned Miller Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and a writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was considered the leading American of his time writing i ...

. The work was commissioned by the

Springfield Symphony Orchestra The Springfield Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Springfield, Massachusetts. It performs at Symphony Hall, a part of the Springfield Municipal Group. The Springfield Symphony (SSO) got its start when the conductor of the ...

for the violinist

Jaime Laredo Jaime Laredo (born June 7, 1941) is an American violinist and Conducting, conductor. He was the conductor and music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and began his musical career when he was five years old. Laredo was born in Cochabamb ...

and composed in 1984. It was first performed by Laredo and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Gutter in the

Symphony Hall, Springfield The Municipal Group of Springfield, Massachusetts, United States is a collection of three prominent municipal buildings in the city's Metro Center district. Consisting of a concert hall, City Hall, and a clocktower, the Group is a center of go ...

, on March 30, 1985.

Composition

Structure

The concerto has a duration of approximately 22 minutes and is cast in six

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: #Twilight #Toccata – Chaconne #Romance Without Words #Midnight #Toccata – Rondo #Dawn

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin and a chamber orchestra consisting of

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(doubling

piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, two

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Reception

The music critic

Donal Henahan Donal Henahan (February 28, 1921 – August 19, 2012) was an American music critic and journalist who had lengthy associations with the ''Chicago Daily News'' and ''The New York Times''. With the ''Times'' he won the annual Pulitzer Prize fo ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the piece moderate praise, remarking that "the work proved to be immediately digestible and pleasant enough of its genial type." He added, "In its best moments, it vaguely reminded one of

Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

. Mr. Rorem's score makes a few brusquely dramatic gestures (timpani obbligatos, for instance, in movements entitled Toccata-Chaconne and Toccata-Rondo), but in the main it relies on the kind of anonymous, vaporous lyricism that characterizes so much of his instrumental work." Reviewing a recording of the piece paired with Rorem's

Flute Concerto A flute concerto is a concerto for solo flute and instrumental ensemble, customarily the orchestra. Such works have been written from the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day. Some major compose ...

and ''Pilgrims'', Peter Dickinson of ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'' wrote, "This is relaxed and indulgent music, even if these works are not the best from this now grand old man of American music."

References

{{Authority control Concertos by Ned Rorem 1984 compositions Rorem, Ned Compositions for chamber orchestra Music commissioned by orchestras