Alfredo Casella
Concerto in la minore
Short instrumentation: 2 3 3 2 - 4 2 0 0 - timp, perc, str
Duration: 30'
Dedication: a Josph Szigeti
Solos:
Violine
Instrumentation details:
2 flutes
2 oboen
cor anglais
2 clarinets in B (A)
bass clarinet in B
2 bassoons
4 horns in F
2 trumpets in C
timpani
perc (2 player)
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
Casella - Concerto in la minore for violin and orchestra
Audio preview
Work introduction
First performed by Joseph Szigeti in the same year it was composed (1928 in the Soviet Union), Casella’s violin concerto is not a product of the “roaring Twenties.” He did not intend to upend the instrumental-concerto genre – he wrote a diversified, sunny, bubbly piece of music with ingratiating cantilenas in the lyrical sections and virtuosic solos in the incisively rhythmical fast passages.
This is a piece rewarding to the violinist and the orchestra alike – not least in the favour it finds with audiences.