Higdon's Violin Concerto

Synopsis

On today’s date in 2009, Hilary Hahn premiered a new violin concerto by the American composer Jennifer Higdon, a work tailor-made for the violinist, according to Higdon:

“She’s got gorgeous tone in the top register, but also down really low, so I tried to utilize her entire range, her lyrical gift, her ability to play super fast and negotiate through complex meter changes… I sent off each movement as I finished it, and I kept thinking she was going to say, 'Oh, this is too hard,' but she said, 'It's my job, I'm going to learn it,' and boy she did.“

When asked if it wasn’t intimidating writing a violin concerto in the 21st century, considering the incredible legacy of great violin concertos already written, Higdon said a little intimidation is a good thing: “There's nothing like fear to get the imagination running. Starting a piece is the worst,” says Higdon, “and that can stretch from one day to three weeks of agony. The cats run and hide.”

Higdon’s Violin Concerto for Hilary Hahn won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the composer said she found out in a very 21st century fashion, when she noticed her cell phone was suddenly flooded with dozens and dozens of messages.

“I jumped up and down a little,” confesses Higdon—and that probably scared her cats, too.

The cats’ names, for the record, are Beau and Squeak.

Music Played in Today's Program

Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) Violin Concerto Hilary Hahn, vn;Royal Liverpool Philharmonic;Vasily Petrenko, cond. DG 146980-2

On This Day

Births

• 1941 - American composer Stephen Albert, in New York;

Deaths

• 1497 - Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem, age c. 76, in Tours;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 144 ("Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin") performed on Septuagesimae Sunday as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1727 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 157 ("Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn") for a funeral service in Leipzig;

• 1813 - Rossini: opera "Tancredi," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;

• 1851 - R. Schumann: Symphony No. 3 ("Rhenish"), in Düsseldorf, conducted by the composer;

• 1930 - Roussel: "Petite Suite" for orchestra, in Paris;

• 1933 - Henry Brant: "Angels and Devils" for solo flute and flute ensemble, at a Pan-American Association of Composers concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, with the famous French-born flautist Georges Barrère as the soloist; On the same program, Brant accompanied soprano Judith Litante at the piano in the premiere performances of three songs by Charles Ives: "Afterglow," "Ann Street," and "Like a Sick Eagle";

• 1941 - Hindemith: Cello Concerto, at the Sanders Theater (Cambridge, Mass.) by the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist;

• 1944 - Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, by the NBC Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Eduard Steuermann as soloist;

• 1959 - Poulenc: opera "La voix humaine" (The Human Voice), in Paris at the Opéra Comique;

• 1976 - John La Montaine: opera "Be Glad, Then, America," at University Park, Pa.;

• 1996 - Stephen Paulus: "Dramatic Suite," for flute, viola, cello and piano, in St. Cloud, Minn., by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center;

Others

• 1838 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet in Eb, Op. 44, no. 3.