John Williams
Concerto for Violin & Orchestra
1 I. Moderato 12:28
2 II. Adagio 9:54
3 III. Maestoso - Presto 10:05
Mark Peskanov (violin)
4 Concerto for Flute & Orchestra 13:33
Peter Lloyd (flute)
Music composed by John Williams
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin
The Williams concerned is the John of Star Wars and E. T, music of such technical excellence and suitability for purpose as to suggest great promise for the two concertos in view. And the promise is indeed fulfilled; both are splendid additions to the repertoire.
The more substantial is the Violin Concerto, a full-scale three-movement structure that you might expect from a composer whose own list of favourite twentieth-century examples of the genre includes those of every composer you could sensibly suggest (except Delius, Sibelius and Bloch).
I am making no suggestion of any resulting eclecticism; only of the standard concerned, to which Williams faces up in his own style, not that of E]gar or Bartok. His own style includes an underlying romanticism, a flexible idea of twentieth century idiom, a total mastery of scoring, and a taste for the solo violin to be engaged in playing tunes rather than fireworks: a taste which many listeners will likely echo. The tunes vary, from pretty warmly romantic in, especially, the first two movements, to rapid triplet figuration in the third; in all cases with a sound enough sense of structure to ensure that the predominant style is set in focus by contrasting ones, and that in any case the solo style itself is set in focus by contrasting, and often very exciting, orchestral ones. This is a concerto for listeners as well as for string players, and I believe that many will indeed enjoy it very much.
The same is true, I think, of the earlier composed Flute Concerto. This is vastly less interested in any precedent, so much as in creating something new in the symphonic field. The newness lies in the all-pervading influence of Japanese shakuhachi playing. One of the results of this influence has been in the choice of orchestra: strings and things. 'Things' is, I know, not a standard technical term, but nothing else seems quite to cover a large-scale assemblage of percussion plus piano plus celeste plus harps. Full use is made of all these as well as of varieties of string technique in the accompaniment, with a resulting colour that would have made any wind contribution, other than that of the soloist, an unnecessary intrusion. And four shortish, very varied movements allow for a great variety of Japanese-derived textures: a continuously compelling piece.
These two most rewarding concertos are given the splendid performances they deserve, and are recorded in a similar quality of sound. In the case of the Violin Concerto, some would perhaps prefer the soloist given an extra notch of prominence; it is a matter of taste. For nobody, surely, would want to recess unduly that beautiful orchestral texture. M., Gramophone
Concerto for Violin & Orchestra
1 I. Moderato 12:28
2 II. Adagio 9:54
3 III. Maestoso - Presto 10:05
Mark Peskanov (violin)
4 Concerto for Flute & Orchestra 13:33
Peter Lloyd (flute)
Music composed by John Williams
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin
POSTED BY SIMON MORLEY!
The more substantial is the Violin Concerto, a full-scale three-movement structure that you might expect from a composer whose own list of favourite twentieth-century examples of the genre includes those of every composer you could sensibly suggest (except Delius, Sibelius and Bloch).
I am making no suggestion of any resulting eclecticism; only of the standard concerned, to which Williams faces up in his own style, not that of E]gar or Bartok. His own style includes an underlying romanticism, a flexible idea of twentieth century idiom, a total mastery of scoring, and a taste for the solo violin to be engaged in playing tunes rather than fireworks: a taste which many listeners will likely echo. The tunes vary, from pretty warmly romantic in, especially, the first two movements, to rapid triplet figuration in the third; in all cases with a sound enough sense of structure to ensure that the predominant style is set in focus by contrasting ones, and that in any case the solo style itself is set in focus by contrasting, and often very exciting, orchestral ones. This is a concerto for listeners as well as for string players, and I believe that many will indeed enjoy it very much.
The same is true, I think, of the earlier composed Flute Concerto. This is vastly less interested in any precedent, so much as in creating something new in the symphonic field. The newness lies in the all-pervading influence of Japanese shakuhachi playing. One of the results of this influence has been in the choice of orchestra: strings and things. 'Things' is, I know, not a standard technical term, but nothing else seems quite to cover a large-scale assemblage of percussion plus piano plus celeste plus harps. Full use is made of all these as well as of varieties of string technique in the accompaniment, with a resulting colour that would have made any wind contribution, other than that of the soloist, an unnecessary intrusion. And four shortish, very varied movements allow for a great variety of Japanese-derived textures: a continuously compelling piece.
These two most rewarding concertos are given the splendid performances they deserve, and are recorded in a similar quality of sound. In the case of the Violin Concerto, some would perhaps prefer the soloist given an extra notch of prominence; it is a matter of taste. For nobody, surely, would want to recess unduly that beautiful orchestral texture. M., Gramophone
Concerto for Violin & Orchestra
1 I. Moderato 12:28
2 II. Adagio 9:54
3 III. Maestoso - Presto 10:05
Mark Peskanov (violin)
4 Concerto for Flute & Orchestra 13:33
Peter Lloyd (flute)
Music composed by John Williams
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin
POSTED BY SIMON MORLEY!
7 comments:
http://nitroflare.com/view/ED04DE93CE39374/JWilliamVioFluConcs.rar
Many thanks and regards from The Netherlands.
Veel dank en groeten uit Nederland.
Can you please re-download this one? Grand Thanks!
Sorry I think I lost this post, as was not mine (was Simon Morley's). I can't reupload it.
3 years later... is there any chance you would have found this album again for a re up ? this John Williams work is very rare. Every where we can find his other concertos but not the flute.
Sorry, as I said before I don't have this any more.
Sorry to hear that too. I'll survive without that music :) Thank you for your site. Long live classical musics
Post a Comment