Violin Concerto (Walton)
The Violin Concerto was written by William Walton in 1938–9, and reorchestrated in 1943. It has three movements.
- Andante tranquillo
- Presto capriccioso alla napolitana
- Vivace
The terms above are explained in the article Tempo.
Written for Heifetz and edited by him, in 1938–9 and reorchestrated in 1943. Premiere of original version December 7 1939, Cleveland, Heifetz violin, Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodzinski. Revised version premiered January 17 1944, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, Henry Holst violin, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting.
About a half-hour. For violin solo, standard orchestra (revision does pare down percussion section.) As with the early viola concerto (begun in 1928 though revised in 1961) with which, along with Facade the composer had made his name, the work follows a pattern of lyrical opening — scherzo — sonata-form finale.
Other works written in the same period include the march Crown Imperial (1937) and the second suite of Facade (also from 1938). The violin concerto of Benjamin Britten and violin concerto of Ernest Bloch were written around the same time, and Berg's, Roger Sessions's, Bartok's second and Prokofiev's second concertos were completed within the three years preceding (the Bloch achieved recording soonest).
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Categories: Violin concertos