The Violin Concerto by the American composer John Adams was written in 1993. Its premiere was on January 19, 1994, by Jorja Fleezanis with the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Edo de Waart, at the Ordway Music Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The piece was co-commissioned by the New York City Ballet. It received the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.
A typical performance lasts around 35 minutes.
The Violin Concerto has been called "the most original approach to the genre since the Alban Berg Concerto".Christopher Latham, review of recording by Chloë Hanslip, Limelight, January 2007, p. 47
Structure The work is in three movements:
It is dedicated to the memory of David Huntley of Boosey & Hawkes.
Instrumentation The work calls for solo violin accompanied by an orchestra with the following instrumentation.
Woodwinds 2 flutes (both doubling piccolos) 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais) 2 clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet) 2 bassoons
Brass 2 horns in F trumpet in C
Percussion 2 players, doubling on timpani guiro 3 bongo drums 2 conga drums bass drum suspended cymbal tambourine claves high cowbell vibraphone marimba tubular bells
Keyboards 2 synthesizersTechnical requirements for the synthesizers available here
Strings violin I (minimum 6) violin II (minimum 6) violas (minimum 5) cellos (minimum 5) double basses (minimum 2)
Recordings
The first recording was by Gidon Kremer and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, released as Nonesuch 79360–2.
In 2017 Orchid Classics released a recording (coupled with the Korngold violin concerto), with soloist Ilya Gringolts and the Copenhagen Philharmonic conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
References
External links John Adams on his Violin Concerto Interview from Perspectives of New Music
Violin Concerto Tech Specs by Mark Grey, sound designer for John Adams