The greatest VCs written since 1960

[doctorpresume]

In response to a couple of nominations above:

• Adams' violin concerto - it's fine, though I prefer his electric violin concerto "The Dharma at Big Sur" for its sheer high-spirited bonkersness. In the film "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould", there's a bit where Gould describes himself as an ecstatic loon. It's a phrase that comes to mind whenever I hear "Dharma".
• Corigliano's violin concerto - it's okay. The opening movement, "The Red Violin Chaconne", was a stand-alone piece that Corigliano made from his oscar-winning score to "The Red Violin" (coincidentally by the same director as "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould"!). That chaconne is a remarkable piece of work, I think. The rest of the concerto was tacked on some years later, and doesn't really do justice to the opening movement, for my money.
• Pettersson's 2nd violin concerto - yes yes yes

A couple of my own favourites to add to the list, then...

Feldman - Violin and Orchestra
Hillborg - Violin Conceto
Lutoslawski - Chain II
Matthews (Colin, that is) - Violin Concerto

[febnyc]

My vote - Lionel Sainsbury's VC.

[Alan Howe]

Und was sagst du, Tobias?

There are many, many great violin concertos, so I checked my archive and found out that I have to choose 1 from more than 2000 works (let alone those works I don't have a recording of and so cannot decide how good they are). Honestly this decision is a bit too heavy for me on a Easter sunday morning. And in fact it depends much on the mood and the style I am looking for in a specific moment.

Best,
Tobias

I'll take any suggestions - perhaps those which come to mind most readily...

[Christo]

Here is another vote for Fazil Say's Violin Concerto with Peteris Vasks' a close second.

Don't know Fazil Say's VC, but Pēteris Vasks' 1997 concerto 'Tālā gaisma' (Distant Light) is one of my candidates too. Another one is Otar Taktakishvili's Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra from 1987.

[Greg K]

I'll answer for Tobias (who introduced me to this piece over a decade ago) with my own second choice, - Violin Concerto No.1 by Gerhard Rosenfeld (1963).  Anyone else know it? 

[Holger]

I am surprised to see my favourite 20th century VC has already been named: like shamokin88, I would take Ernst Hermann Meyer's great, passionate Violin Concerto from 1963/64. It's an impressive piece reflecting the inevitability of death, but at the same time it's a strong affirmation of life. A deeply tragical piece full of power and struggle, with slow outer movements and an impressive allegro in the centre.

While Meyer is almost forgotten today (clearly due to political reasons - he was a devoted communist who was active in GDR politics), this concerto has really found its way to CD as part of a 2 CD set dedicated to Oistrach's 100th birthday:
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/David-Oistrach-Violinkonzerte-100th-Anniversary-Edition/hnum/4884402

Don't give too much on the liner notes, the writer is obviously unable to distinguish between Meyer as a person and his music and totally underestimates the concerto in a statement full of prejudices.

And yes, I also know Gerhard Rosenfeld's Violin Concerto No. 1 - a very fine piece with lots of energy in it.

[Greg K]

I'm with Holger concerning E.H. Meyer's VC, and feel comfortable nominating this and the aforementioned Rosenfeld as my two foremost German entries among the candadites.

[Amphissa]

I'd love to hear the Meyer. But the Oistrakh set is loaded down with Bach and Vivaldi, which I am loathe to purchase yet again, and the only alternative seems to be the giant Kegel set. I've not been successful tracking down a concert performance.

[Dundonnell]

Penderecki's Violin Concerto No.1.

This impassioned, tragic work has tons of intensity and was so important in marking the composer's transition from the avant-garde works he had written previously to his more 'romantically-inclined' later music. When it was premiered by Isaac Stern in 1977 the critics were appalled at what they regarded as Penderecki's 'treason' in moving back towards a more traditional idiom. A substantial number have never forgiven him to this day. Arnold Whittall who seems to review all new cd releases of Penderecki's music for the 'Gramophone' continues to heap obloquy on the composer's head.

The First Violin Concerto is a transitional work. The full glory of Penderecki's transformation (or evolution as he would prefer to regard it) can be heard in the Brucknerian Second Symphony of 1980 but that makes the Violin Concerto an even more important work for that reason.

[TerraEpon]

Also, since it says "since 1960", Khachaturian's Violin Concerto-Rhapsody just squeezes in there being from 1961. And Shostakovich's 2nd is from 1967.

Perhaps not really within the spirit of the topic, and both composers have their earlier efforts being much more famous and better examples of the genre, but it's worth mentioning.

[markniew]

And I suugest listening to rather unknown piece by Polish Zbigniew Bargielski (1937).

His VC dates from 1975 and was dedicated to and premiered in January 1978 by Wanda Wiłkomirska.
It is very emotional piece of music. The violin part is lyricall while the orchestral part quite brutal.
The concerto is (was) available in the Polish Radio box with Bargielski's music  - PRCD 080, studio recording.
I do have also off radio recording of that performance.
Concerto was also registered on LP as a part of the sound chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Polish Music of 1978.

[Greg K]

Besides one or the other (or both) of Penderecki's Concerti, another Polish VC in the running would be Aleksander Lason's terrific "Concerto Festivo" (1995). 

I don't know the Bargielski work Marek refers to, but (ahem) think his BC recording might qualify for an upload.

[JimL]

I don't know about "greatest", but at the Ojai Festival a few years back, they performed the VC of Oliver Knussen.  I was pretty impressed with it.

[fr8nks]

And I suugest listening to rather unknown piece by Polish Zbigniew Bargielski (1937).

His VC dates from 1978 and was dedicated to and premiered in January 1978 by Wanda Wiłkomirska.
It is very emotional piece of music. The violin part is lyricall while the orchestral part quite brutal.
The concerto is (was) available in the Polish Radio box with Bargielski's music  - PRCD 080, studio recording.
I do have also off radio recording of that performance.
Concerto was also registered on LP as a part of the sound chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Polish Music of 1978.

The Bargielski Violin Concerto and other works can be heard here:

                                  http://chomikuj.pl/tadeusz_baird/2.+Muzyka

[doctorpresume]

I don't know about "greatest", but at the Ojai Festival a few years back, they performed the VC of Oliver Knussen.  I was pretty impressed with it.

Knussen's conducting it, with Leila Josefowicz fiddling (and inevitably gurning away to her usual extremes!), at London's Barbican early next year.