Double Concerto for violin, viola, and piano by Benjamin Britten
Edited by Peter Bartok. Published by Chester Music
Benjamin Britten (1913-76) was among the most significant English composers of the middle 20th century. An admirer of the music of Mahler, Shostakovich, and his teacher Frank Bridge, he also found great inspiration in English baroque and Renaissance music and helped broaden the predominant English style beyond the prevailing pastoralism of his day. Though most known for his operatic, vocal, and choral music, he wrote much for strings.
Britten wrote his Double Concerto for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra in 1932, when he was only eighteen and still a student at the Royal College of Music--yet it languished for over sixty years before receiving its posthumous world premiere in 1997. It is an astonishing achievement for one so young, brimming with confidence, color, invention, and plenty of substantive writing. Violinists and violists would do well to take notice of this little-known gem. Advanced level, Grade 5.
MOVEMENTS:
- I. Allegro non troppo
- II. Rhapsody: Poco lento
- III. Allegro scherzando