7 Violin Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week

Hello everyone! For this week's Weekly7, I have decided to continue my sub-series of recommended concertos. At the end of this article there will be a list of my previous concerto posts. Here are 7 Violin Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week:

7. Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

I always love kicking off a list with Tchaikovsky. His music is quite exhilarating, as well as entertaining. Here is a quote, given to the New York magazine in 1912 by Leopold Auer, the Violinist who was originally supposed to premiere the piece:

It is incorrect to state that I had declared the concerto in its original form unplayable. What I did say was that some of the passages were not suited to the character of the instrument, and that, however perfectly rendered, they would not sound as well as the composer had imagined. From this purely aesthetic point of view only I found some of it impracticable, and for this reason I re-edited the solo part.

Half of me wonders if this performance is of the original way Tchaikovsky wrote it, or of the edition by Leopold Auer. And, if this performance is of the edited version, what did the original sound like? This performance is by Itzhak Perlman and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Itzhak Perlman is one of the best modern Violinists, as well as one of the most reputable. Perlman contracted Polio at the age of four, a year after beginning to teach himself the violin (on a toy due to not being able to hold a real Violin at that point). My voice teacher once turned pages for Perlman's accompanist when he gave a performance at her college. I also knew Perlman even before I became interested in classical music, due to his work with Billy Joel. Here is Itzhak Perlman and the Philadelphia orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 35 (Possibly the version edited by Leopold Auer).

6. Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 - Johannes Brahms

This Violin concerto was dedicated to and premiered by Joseph Joachim, a close friend of Brahms. Joachim insisted that the concert at which the piece be premiered begin with Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and end in Brahms' new Violin Concerto due to the two being in the same key. Brahms was hesitant, remarking that "it was a lot of D major—and not much else on the program." Brahms also felt that his reputation for writing hard music combined with the fact that the piece was new and not yet established might give people a bad feeling about it being premiered alongside the established work of Beethoven. Nevertheless, the piece still became one of the most known Violin concertos written by a German composer. Here is Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, performed again by Itzhak Perlman; this time with the Chicago Symphony orchestra:

5. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 8 - Richard Strauss

I love the beginning of this piece due to its heavy use of brass, then the contrasting effect of woodwinds and strings. Strauss has always been one of my favorite composers for brass due to the fact that his father played horn. I also feel that the build up to the violin at the beginning of this piece is quite tasteful. It's as if the beginning is just a constant growth towards the entrance of the violin. This concerto was written during Strauss' last two years of school, while he was still a teenager. I quite enjoy the themes in this piece. I also love his use of not only the violin, but also instruments from the orchestra to keep the piece spicy, sometimes pairing them together for a "mock" duet, and sometimes making almost an argument affect between instruments. Here is Richard Strauss' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor:

4. Violin Concerto No.3 in G Major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This performance was given by Hillary Hahn (Violin) as well as Gustavo Dudamel (conductor) in a concert meant to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI's 80th birthday. They also played the New World Symphony. Mozart composed this piece at the age of 19, which surprisingly was when he was "middle aged" considering he died at the age of 35. I felt I needed to include a Mozart Violin concerto to represent the classical era. You can hear quite the difference between baroque and classical, as well as classical and romantic. Here is Mozart's third Violin Concerto in G Major:

3. Violin Concerto in E-minor, Op. 64 - Felix Mendelssohn

It is quite obvious when listening to these concertos which composers were virtuoso violinists, and which ones were not. Mendelssohn is probably the most advanced violinist on this list -besides Vivaldi. As a result of this, Mendelssohn's violin part sounds like one of the most demanding on this list -besides Vivaldi- as well as one of the most Violin dependant -besides Vivald. Mendelssohn wrote this piece after being appointed conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra. He wrote it for his appointed concertmaster and childhood friend, Ferdinand David. In a letter to David, he wrote "I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace." After its premiere, this concerto became known as one of the best and most innovative Violin concertos of all time. I always enjoy Mendelssohn's music because it is elaborate, but not to an extreme. Mendelssohn writes what he feels is necessary to convey an idea. Nothing more, nothing less. Here is Mendelssohn's violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 64, performed by Hillary Hahn and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra:

2. The Four Seasons - Antonio Vivaldi

The Four Seasons is not actually one violin concerto, but rather a collection of 4 violin concertos based on each of the seasons. These are some of the most famous violin concertos in history, the most famous probably being Spring or Winter. My personal favorite of the four being spring. It was unheard of at the time of Vivaldi for a composer to write a piece (or collection of pieces) with metaphorical meanings. Music was much more based on mechanics such as the type of structured piece, and the number "Invention no. 4" for example. So Vivaldi was taking a step out of societal comfort by writing a set of concertos based on metaphors. The composer also published a series of sonnets, with the pieces, to help explain the meaning of each of the concertos. Here are the Four Seasons by Vivaldi:

1. Violin Concerto in D Major - Ludwig Van Beethoven

This is my theory teacher's favorite violin concerto of all time. This concerto did not become succesful until Joseph Joachim played it nearly forty years after it was first premiered. This is probably one of the most famous violin concertos ever. I realize, I have used that statement quite frequently on this list. Beethoven was very good at writing memorable music, that sticks with you throughout life. Beethoven was not a virtuoso violinist, yet he still managed to successfully capture the richness and beauty of the instrument in this piece. Here is Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 61 performed by Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic:

All Previous Weekly7s

Previous Concerto Posts

7 Piano Concertos You Should Listen to This Week
7 Oboe Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week
7 Bassoon Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week
7 French horn Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week
7 Violin Concertos YOU Should Listen to this Week

Thanks for reading this! I enjoyed writing this article, and learned of several new pieces. Make sure to come back next week for my next Weekly7! See you later!

Also remember to check for: My weekly 7 post, As well as my composer birthday posts
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remlaps (75) · 7 years ago

Just listened to the Mendelssohn piece that was played by Hillary Hahn. I don't know many violinists, but she and Perlman are definitely two of my favorites. Mendelssohn's violin Concerto in D Major is an exhilarating work. Now on to Mozart!

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