The finale has particularly brilliant orchestration, and the most virtuosic and rhythmic part writing for the violin of the whole concerto, yet melody is not forgotten there is a particularly good one on the husky upper register of the instrument's G string. The second movement is a simple and serene song, with a contrasting section like an Irish folk song. The violin otherwise decorates the orchestra's statements of the melodies, and has several quasi cadenza passages, where the beat is suspended and the orchestra plays quiet chords.
In the first movement, these are traded between violin and orchestra. Its tone is romantic, with a strong and attractive remnant of the "English Pastoralist" sound of Delius or, a closer comparison, Arnold Bax. The exactly contemporary Barber Concerto, a work of nearly equivalent value, was almost lost in this worthy crowd, before it gained popularity in the 1980s.Īlwyn's concerto is in the standard three movements, and is a big work of 40 minutes, with a nearly 20-minute first movement. Written in what turned out to be the greatest decade in the history of the violin concerto, in terms of great works by a diversity of composers ( Hindemith, Bartók, Walton, Bloch, Berg, Prokofiev, Sessions, Britten, Barber, Stravinsky, etc.), it may be for the better that the Alwyn concerto was not immediately heard when written. The rediscovered violin concerto received its world premiere directly on compact disc (Chandos 9187), played by Lydia Mordkovitch with Richard Hickox conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, and recorded in January 1993, at All Saints' Church, Tooting.
It was when the composer's widow, Mary Alwyn, was participating with Chandos Records, in preparation of a complete Alwyn orchestral series, that the score was found. Alwyn placed it in the back of a cupboard, where it was forgotten for fifty years. Although Alwyn submitted the score to the BBC in 1943, for inclusion in the Proms concerts, the BBC turned it down. Pianist Clifford Curzon, who also participated (playing an Alwyn piano piece), wrote the composer a letter praising the "tranquility and beauty" of his "musical thought" and singling out the Concerto as "a major work."Ĭurzon's hopes to hear the work with orchestra came to nothing. He accompanied, on piano, the violinist Frederick Grinke, in two orchestral works with violin: the Pastorale Fantasia for violin and strings and the Instant Violin Concerto, on which he had been working for many months. William Walton: Portsmouth Point Overture (1925) and Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1929) Although English composer William Walton was born in 1902 to a family of musicians and given piano and violin lessons at an early age, he was never really able to master a musical instrument. To it, he invited several friends, personnel from various publishing firms, officials from the BBC, and the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. To advance his career, he organized a private recital, held on March 3, 1940.
William Alwyn (1905 - 1985) had become noted among the composers who matured in England in the late 1920s and the 1930s, and established himself as a fine composer of documentary film scores.