It's okay, I know the correct Italian plural is "concerti." Sometimes I fear turning into a musical pedant and decide to cut loose and really goof off. Hence the "incorrect" spelling of the title.
Once again, back to my favourite English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, for a pair of works which remain rarely heard, even among devotees of his music. The simple truth is that the concerto form, however you choose to define it, was very much a byway for RVW. His central output is anchored by symphonies, operas, and major choral concert works with orchestra.
However, he did write a number of concertos and concertante works, and here are two of them.
His Concerto in A Minor for Oboe and Strings is a classic example of his pastoral style. And why not? After all, the sound of the oboe has often enough been associated with the sounds of a shepherd's pipe by composers from the classical and romantic periods. To listen to this engaging, lyrical score, you'd never know it had been composed at the height of the flying bomb attacks on London in 1943-44.
This concerto has a beguiling air of naïve innocence about it. The oboe writing features broadly diatonic melodies and the accompaniment carries this forward with the composer's characteristic flair for string writing. The three movements are nicely contrasted in tempo, while the general ambience of the work consistently reminds me of Blake's classic phrase, "England's green and pleasant land."
The first movement, entitled Rondo pastorale, opens with an extended lyrical section of flowing melody, followed by a brisker but still graceful section with the air of a country dance. Passages labelled cadenza are interspersed with the main themes. The movement ends with a slower, quieter meditative passage.
The second movement is a short but sprightly Minuet and Musette, with the oboist providing the obligatory drone note for the central Musette section before the Minuet is briefly recalled.
The finale is actually a scherzo, with plenty of rapid virtuoso writing for the oboe. The movement includes several abrupt tempo changes which challenge the soloist's breath control. Near the end, a sweeping Lento section draws us into the celestial sound-world of the Fifth Symphony and the Delectable Mountains of the opera The Pilgrim's Progress, two works which occupied the composer during the time period when this concerto was composed.
The Piano Concerto in C (1931) is a bird of a very different feather. Vaughan Williams was not by nature a composer of keyboard music, and the piano writing in this work is dense, thorny, chordal, often uncomfortably difficult to play. Indeed, the piano part's technical challenges are such that the composer re-arranged the score in 1946 into a Concerto for 2 Pianos. It was also at this time that he added the gentle, quiet ending onto the work's final movement.
However, he did write a number of concertos and concertante works, and here are two of them.
His Concerto in A Minor for Oboe and Strings is a classic example of his pastoral style. And why not? After all, the sound of the oboe has often enough been associated with the sounds of a shepherd's pipe by composers from the classical and romantic periods. To listen to this engaging, lyrical score, you'd never know it had been composed at the height of the flying bomb attacks on London in 1943-44.
This concerto has a beguiling air of naïve innocence about it. The oboe writing features broadly diatonic melodies and the accompaniment carries this forward with the composer's characteristic flair for string writing. The three movements are nicely contrasted in tempo, while the general ambience of the work consistently reminds me of Blake's classic phrase, "England's green and pleasant land."
The first movement, entitled Rondo pastorale, opens with an extended lyrical section of flowing melody, followed by a brisker but still graceful section with the air of a country dance. Passages labelled cadenza are interspersed with the main themes. The movement ends with a slower, quieter meditative passage.
The second movement is a short but sprightly Minuet and Musette, with the oboist providing the obligatory drone note for the central Musette section before the Minuet is briefly recalled.
The finale is actually a scherzo, with plenty of rapid virtuoso writing for the oboe. The movement includes several abrupt tempo changes which challenge the soloist's breath control. Near the end, a sweeping Lento section draws us into the celestial sound-world of the Fifth Symphony and the Delectable Mountains of the opera The Pilgrim's Progress, two works which occupied the composer during the time period when this concerto was composed.
The Piano Concerto in C (1931) is a bird of a very different feather. Vaughan Williams was not by nature a composer of keyboard music, and the piano writing in this work is dense, thorny, chordal, often uncomfortably difficult to play. Indeed, the piano part's technical challenges are such that the composer re-arranged the score in 1946 into a Concerto for 2 Pianos. It was also at this time that he added the gentle, quiet ending onto the work's final movement.
The craggy, uncompromising piano idiom of this Concerto can also be heard in the much later Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune, which I previously wrote about -- you can read about that work here: Music for Piano, Orchestra,... and CHORUS???
Again, this concerto is in the classic three movements, but with little of the classical concerto style present. As with the Oboe Concerto, and definitely contrary to standard classical practice, each movement divides into a number of sections with sharply contrasting tempo indications.
The first movement, a Toccata, explodes in a fortissimo curtain-raiser before the pianist erupts into the first main theme, a sequence of rising and falling chordal passages. The aggressive quality of this music is easily relatable to the nearly-contemporary Fourth Symphony. The music is said to be influenced by Busoni's piano transcriptions of Bach (the title of the movement suggests such a kinship). The music rises to a virtuoso largamente statement and then a slow cadenza bridges the way to the next movement.
The slow central movement is titled Romanza -- it's a name Vaughan Williams reserved for a few of his most heartfelt musical creations. A quiet, meditative line for solo flute floats gently above quiet piano arpeggios. Other instruments take up the flute's theme while the piano continues to gently provide a counter-melody over the arpeggios. A brief, more impassioned central episode, passes by and the quieter atmosphere is resumed.
The finale in effect incorporates two movements into one: a powerful opening fugue for piano and orchestra is then linked by another cadenza to the Finale alla tedesca, in the style of a German country dance.
The fugue subject is loudly announced by the brasses, and then taken up by the piano in a fierce virtuoso display of 3-part counterpoint, with the orchestra joining in at the fourth entry. As the complexity builds, the composer tosses in fiercely orchestrated passages where different instruments are heard playing the same lines at different speeds.
The biggest of the piano cadenzas, with the heaviest scoring for the instrument, leads the music from the fugue into the finale. Dance-like it may be, but it's more of a bar-room brawl than a ballroom waltz. The opening bars are clearly related to the fugue subject. Another cadenza draws down the emotional temperature, and the piano recalls the theme of the Romanza before the music dwindles down to a quiet ending -- with the piano's final notes vanishing into the air.
These two rarities of the concerto repertoire are featured in a Chandos live-concert recording with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Peter Oundjian -- the last of many rich recording projects which Oundjian helmed during his years in charge of the orchestra. This recording is filled up with two somewhat better-known Vaughan Williams masterpieces.
The Serenade to Music is heard here in the common version for choir and four vocal soloists, rather than the rarer original score for 16 solo voices. The Serenade is discussed in this previous post: The Touches of Sweet Harmony
Also heard on this recording is one of RVW's most unique inspirations, the suite Flos campi ("The Flower of the Field") for small orchestra, solo viola, and chamber choir. You can read about that piece here: Rare and Beautiful From RVW
Again, this concerto is in the classic three movements, but with little of the classical concerto style present. As with the Oboe Concerto, and definitely contrary to standard classical practice, each movement divides into a number of sections with sharply contrasting tempo indications.
The first movement, a Toccata, explodes in a fortissimo curtain-raiser before the pianist erupts into the first main theme, a sequence of rising and falling chordal passages. The aggressive quality of this music is easily relatable to the nearly-contemporary Fourth Symphony. The music is said to be influenced by Busoni's piano transcriptions of Bach (the title of the movement suggests such a kinship). The music rises to a virtuoso largamente statement and then a slow cadenza bridges the way to the next movement.
The slow central movement is titled Romanza -- it's a name Vaughan Williams reserved for a few of his most heartfelt musical creations. A quiet, meditative line for solo flute floats gently above quiet piano arpeggios. Other instruments take up the flute's theme while the piano continues to gently provide a counter-melody over the arpeggios. A brief, more impassioned central episode, passes by and the quieter atmosphere is resumed.
The finale in effect incorporates two movements into one: a powerful opening fugue for piano and orchestra is then linked by another cadenza to the Finale alla tedesca, in the style of a German country dance.
The fugue subject is loudly announced by the brasses, and then taken up by the piano in a fierce virtuoso display of 3-part counterpoint, with the orchestra joining in at the fourth entry. As the complexity builds, the composer tosses in fiercely orchestrated passages where different instruments are heard playing the same lines at different speeds.
The biggest of the piano cadenzas, with the heaviest scoring for the instrument, leads the music from the fugue into the finale. Dance-like it may be, but it's more of a bar-room brawl than a ballroom waltz. The opening bars are clearly related to the fugue subject. Another cadenza draws down the emotional temperature, and the piano recalls the theme of the Romanza before the music dwindles down to a quiet ending -- with the piano's final notes vanishing into the air.
These two rarities of the concerto repertoire are featured in a Chandos live-concert recording with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Peter Oundjian -- the last of many rich recording projects which Oundjian helmed during his years in charge of the orchestra. This recording is filled up with two somewhat better-known Vaughan Williams masterpieces.
The Serenade to Music is heard here in the common version for choir and four vocal soloists, rather than the rarer original score for 16 solo voices. The Serenade is discussed in this previous post: The Touches of Sweet Harmony
Also heard on this recording is one of RVW's most unique inspirations, the suite Flos campi ("The Flower of the Field") for small orchestra, solo viola, and chamber choir. You can read about that piece here: Rare and Beautiful From RVW
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