Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra
General Info
Duration: 00:19:40
Cost: $83.00
Movement
1. Allegro
2. Large Cantabile
3. Allegro vigoroso, poco presto
Instrumentation
Solo
Ensemble
Player 1: suspended or muted pipe lengths or flower pots, windbells, triangles
Player 2: suspended or muted brake drums or dragon mouths (temple blocks), sistra
Player 3: coffee cans, maracas, suspended cymbals, resonated clock coil chimes
Player 4: gongs, grand tamtam, washtubs
Player 5: bass drum, contra bass viol or tom-toms, snare drum
Description
This work, which is inscribed 1959-1940 is also entitled Koncerto por la violono kun percuta orkestra (in Esperanto, of which Harrison was a fervent advocate and expressing the world-view inherent in the work). This odd method of dating is probably meant to suggest that the work, reflecting his interest in world music and percussion, was conceived early on, but was completed later, after Harrison had turned away from twelve-tone serialism and revived those earlier concerns. It was first performed in New York’s Town Hall in 1959 by the violinist Anahid Ajemian, to whom it is dedicated. There are five percussionists and an interesting and very original variety of percussion instruments. Sometimes this percussion work is rhythmic and incisive, but often it is delicately and coloristically scored, in the manner of a gamelan. Against this textured wall of sound, the violin stands out in high relief as intensely melodic—although it is often rhythmic and colouristic as well, with the highly original sound of the double bass laid on its back with the strings hit on both sides of the bridge, creating fascinating ostinati especially in the first Allegro. “East meets West” is very much the theme of this musical discourse.