Musica Concertata
Instrumentation
Solo violin
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Alto saxophone
Tenor saxophone
Bassoon
2 French Horns
Trumpet
2 Percussion
Strings (min. 1-1-1-1)
Solo violin
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Alto saxophone
Tenor saxophone
Bassoon
2 French Horns
Trumpet
2 Percussion
Strings (min. 1-1-1-1)
Musica Concertata was written in 2000 for violinist Jameson Cooper, who premiered it with the
University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Joanna Carneiro, conductor, in March, 2001 in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. It is cast in three movements which reflect the traditional fast-slow-fast design of
most concerti but it eschews the typical Romantic ideal of a concerto as a vehicle for a solo virtuoso
fighting, as it were, the combined force of a large group of musicians in favor of an evolving cooperative
approach.
The first movement begins with violent, jarring chords out of which the soloist emerges,
although this emergence only bears fruit gradually and reluctantly as the orchestra refuses to yield
dominance to the upstart violinist. As the mood calms, however, the violin becomes increasingly
assertive throughout the lyrical second movement and assumes a more traditional virtuosic role in the
finale.
Though divided into three movements, the structural weight of the entire work falls on the
second movement. All of the various motivic, rhythmic and harmonic ideas presented in the first
movement find their fulfillment in the second which in turns focuses and distills them for the
“scurrying” finale that is the third movement, which closes with the same harmonies that opened the
concerto. The dissonance that characterizes these chords at the work’s opening, however, is replaced
with the more consonant sonorities at their essence, thus bringing the work to a boisterous and joyful
conclusion.
University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Joanna Carneiro, conductor, in March, 2001 in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. It is cast in three movements which reflect the traditional fast-slow-fast design of
most concerti but it eschews the typical Romantic ideal of a concerto as a vehicle for a solo virtuoso
fighting, as it were, the combined force of a large group of musicians in favor of an evolving cooperative
approach.
The first movement begins with violent, jarring chords out of which the soloist emerges,
although this emergence only bears fruit gradually and reluctantly as the orchestra refuses to yield
dominance to the upstart violinist. As the mood calms, however, the violin becomes increasingly
assertive throughout the lyrical second movement and assumes a more traditional virtuosic role in the
finale.
Though divided into three movements, the structural weight of the entire work falls on the
second movement. All of the various motivic, rhythmic and harmonic ideas presented in the first
movement find their fulfillment in the second which in turns focuses and distills them for the
“scurrying” finale that is the third movement, which closes with the same harmonies that opened the
concerto. The dissonance that characterizes these chords at the work’s opening, however, is replaced
with the more consonant sonorities at their essence, thus bringing the work to a boisterous and joyful
conclusion.