GMG Classical Music Forum

As a longtime researcher on 20th century music with concertante violin, I created a list of recommendations of little to unknown compositions which should receive wider attention. Beside that I also added several favourites of mine which I think are better known and don't deserve special promotion. But I am not sure about that, so which of the following works do you (i.e. did you ever hear in a performance on CD, youtube, concert, whatever..)

Khachaturian
Machavariani (thanks to a GMGer who provided a broadcast - though I have not heard it in at least 5 years)
Milhaud
Miaskovsky
Vasks

As luck would have it, I listened to Milhaud's two violin concertos for the first time ever on Monday. I actually liked No. 1 a little better - it's only 10 minutes long, but manages to do some pretty cool things, concisely.

Quote from: violinconcerto on January 29, 2016, 12:17:55 PM
As a longtime researcher on 20th century music with concertante violin, I created a list of recommendations of little to unknown compositions which should receive wider attention. Beside that I also added several favourites of mine which I think are better known and don't deserve special promotion. But I am not sure about that, so which of the following works do you (i.e. did you ever hear in a performance on CD, youtube, concert, whatever..)

I'm very interested in the noticably and remarkably large number of excellent late C20 / 21 Violin Concertos. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts and recommendations on favorites or overlooked gems.

In order of preference, although I like them all.

Hartmann (heard live)
Dutilleux (own a recording of)
Vasks

Nikolai Myaskovsky: Violin concerto
Peteris Vasks: Violin concerto "distant light"

Only the Dutilleux is familiar to me. Thanks for the great list! I should definitely explore some of these..... :)

Quote from: SimonNZ on January 29, 2016, 12:37:09 PM
I'm very interested in the noticably and remarkably large number of excellent late C20 / 21 Violin Concertos. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts and recommendations on favorites or overlooked gems.

You see my list of "well-known" violin concerto masterpieces above ("well-known" is maybe not the correct word here, but thats what I will find out). For more oscure masterpieces you might want to check my website: www.tobias-broeker.de (http://www.tobias-broeker.de). There you also find an encyclopedia on the repertoire (free of charge) as well as some other - hopefully - interesting things.

Of these I have heard and on my shelves: Dutilleux, Hartmann, Khatchaturian, Myaskovsky, Respighi, Stephan. I do not remember anything about Stephan and little about Dutilleux.

The Hartmann is clearly my favorite of those and the one I know longest and best, except for the potboiler Khatchaturian (which is not quite a favorite)

I am not so sure about the Respighi, found it somewhat boring, I am afraid.

I liked the Naxos disc with Myaskovsky and Weinberg but do not quite remember which piece I preferred (I think I like one of them better).

Quote from: violinconcerto on January 29, 2016, 01:32:40 PM
You see my list of "well-known" violin concerto masterpieces above ("well-known" is maybe not the correct word here, but thats what I will find out). For more oscure masterpieces you might want to check my website: www.tobias-broeker.de (http://www.tobias-broeker.de). There you also find an encyclopedia on the repertoire (free of charge) as well as some other - hopefully - interesting things.

That looks very interesting. I'll be checking out the works on the recommendations page at the first opportunity. And will have a look at the encyclopedia once I get home from work. Thanks!

I've heard (and own):

Diamond
Harris
Hartmann
Miaskovsky
Respighi
Rorem
Milhaud
Sallinen


Sarge

Quote from: Jo498 on January 29, 2016, 01:35:58 PM
Of these I have heard and on my shelves: Dutilleux, Hartmann, Khatchaturian, Myaskovsky, Respighi, Stephan. I do not remember anything about Stephan and little about Dutilleux.

The Hartmann is clearly my favorite of those and the one I know longest and best, except for the potboiler Khatchaturian (which is not quite a favorite)

I am not so sure about the Respighi, found it somewhat boring, I am afraid.

I liked the Naxos disc with Myaskovsky and Weinberg but do not quite remember which piece I preferred (I think I like one of them better).

Lists are of course always subjective, so the above is of course "my list". The aim of my poll is mainly to see which of these works are wider known, even if you don't like the work. I am extremely deep into the topic that I think that the Khachaturian VC is a work that really everybody knows, but I already see that this is wrong. Due to the fact that I would like to support the little known masterpieces (i.e. "my masterpieces" of course) I have to find out what is "little known".

As "gut feeling" I would also have said that the Khatchaturian is the best known of the list (and I am pretty sure, Sarge has heard it, maybe forgot about it).
I came to know it by accident because about 20 years ago I bought a VoxBox that has Oistrakh with the Sibelius and Khatchaturian on the first disc and with sonatas by Franck and Shostakovich accompanied by Richter on the second.

I have only heard the Dutilleux. Your list makes me want to explore more modern violin concertos.

I have known Khachaturian since I was a teenager

Others I have but not nearly as familiar with as Kh.'s

Resphigi
Hartmann
Dutilleux
Not sure if I have Moeran and Miaskovsky

Not on your list
Magnus Lindberg
Rodrigo
Corigliano
Adams
Ligeti
Weinberg

I think there are some others on my shelves, but I would need to poke around to see what I have and do not have.

Quote from: Jo498 on January 29, 2016, 02:03:39 PM
As "gut feeling" I would also have said that the Khatchaturian is the best known of the list (and I am pretty sure, Sarge has heard it, maybe forgot about it).

I wouldn't bet against you...but I have no memory of it and it's definitely not in my collection. The only Khach I have are these works:

KHACHATURIAN   SYMPHONY #2
KHACHATURIAN   CELLO CONCERTO
KHACHATURIAN   GAYANEH SUITE
KHACHATURIAN   GAYANEH
KHACHATURIAN   ARMENIAN DANCES
KHACHATURIAN   ADAGIO FROM SPARTACUS
KHACHATURIAN   SABER DANCE FROM GAYANEH ARR. FOR PIANO


Sarge

Is there a good recording of the Chavez on CD?  I have the Szeryng Lp.

EDIT: I did find this unavailable CD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006LA2O

Of these that I know, I think my faves are Myaskovsky and Sessions, though I really need to re-acquaint myself with many of the casually familiar ones.  The Sessions is a neo-Classical work from the 30s, and shouldn't scare anyone here.

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on January 29, 2016, 02:11:59 PM
I wouldn't bet against you...but I have no memory of it and it's definitely not in my collection. The only Khach I have are these works:

KHACHATURIAN   SYMPHONY #2
KHACHATURIAN   CELLO CONCERTO
KHACHATURIAN   GAYANEH SUITE
KHACHATURIAN   GAYANEH
KHACHATURIAN   ARMENIAN DANCES
KHACHATURIAN   ADAGIO FROM SPARTACUS
KHACHATURIAN   SABER DANCE FROM GAYANEH ARR. FOR PIANO


Sarge

You almost certainly heard it on radio. That is how I first heard it back in the 70s.  It was on a lot...to the point of being played too often.

Youtube has at least half a dozen performances, including Oistrakh and Kogan,  or, if you are in a violin babes mood, Fischer and Steinbacher.

I like:
Dutilleux
Myaskovsky
Hartmann

Am pretty meh about:
Moeran
Khachaturian
Rorem
Chávez

Don't remember much about:
Sessions
Vasks
Diamond 2
Stephan

Don't know the rest.

Maybe they were not considered sufficiently high-quality by the OP but I also enjoy the violin concerti of Frank Martin, Ginastera, Ruders (1 & 2), Schuman, Unsuk Chin, Gerhard, Nordheim, Nørgård, Skalkottas, Holloway, MacRae, and Roslavets; am sorta meh about Rodrigo, Piston (1 & 2), Bolcom, Wellesz, Krenek, Rósza, and Henze (1, 2 & 3); have heard and don't remember much about Hugh Wood, Talivaldis Kenins, Bliss, Dohnányi (1 & 2), Frankel, Castelnuovo-Tedesco (2), Klami, Earl Kim, Widmann, and Pettersson; didn't at all like those of Edgar Meyer or Christopher Rouse; and consider Adès, Ross Edwards, and Rochberg "guilty pleasures" (very high-caramel concertos).

Listened to the Chavez earlier, with Szeryng as the soloist.  This is a Columbia Lp with the blue label they used for Mexico (I believe).  The conductor is Chavez himself, with the Mexico City SO.  Excellent performance and recording. 

It's a fine work, more easy to like than the Piano Concerto.

(http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/UMEAAOxydUJTOwO7/s-l300.jpg)

I believe that about 14 of them are in my collection at least.

I have Khachaturian and Vasks. Not on the list, I have Adams, Glass 1, and Ligeti. I would say the Hartmann gets the most discussion here, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Martinů's (I don't know his concertos, but he seems to have a lot of fans here).

Of all the works listed that I've heard, I think the Hartmann is the best concerto of the lot. A second runner-up from the list that's a favorite is probably the Dutilleux, but it has been awhile since I've heard this work. I'll freely admit that I don't really understand the criterion the OP used to generate this list anyway since so many, in my opinion, great 20th Century VCs that aren't talked about very much aren't even on the list like Janacek's The Wandering of a Little Soul for example.

I am sure there must be some rationale behind the list because he really has listened to a thousand or so violin concerti. But to me it also seems a haphazard mix between fairly well known pieces (like Khatchaturian and Hartmann) and really obscure stuff. (I think about 10 composers names of the list I have never encountered before.)

I have these in my collection:


Boris Blacher: Violin concerto

Henri Dutilleux: L'arbre des songes, for violin and orchestra

Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Concerto funebre, for violin and orchestra

Darius Milhaud: Violin concerto No.2

Ernest Moeran: Violin concerto

Nikolai Myaskovsky: Violin concerto

Ottorino Respighi: Concerto gregoriano, for violin and orchestra

Ned Rorem: Violin concerto

Sallinen: Violin Concerto

Session: Violin Concerto