Violin Concerto No. 2 by George Tsontakis

Synopsis

A concerto, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is “a piece for one or more soloists and orchestra with three contrasting movements.” And for most classical music fans, “concerto” means one of big romantic ones by Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, works in which there is a kind of dramatic struggle between soloist and orchestra.

But on today’s date in 2003, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and its concertmaster Stephen Copes premiered a Violin Concerto that didn’t quite fit that mold. For starters, it had four movements, and this Violin Concerto No. 2 by American composer George Tsontakis was more “democratic” than romantic — meaning the solo violinist seems to invite the other members of the orchestra to join in the fun, rather than hogging all the show. This concerto is more like a friendly, playful game than a life-and-death contest, and Tsontakis even titles his second movement “Gioco” or “Games.”

The new concerto proved a winner, being selected for the prestigious 2005 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Even so, George Tsontakis confesses to being a little shy when sitting in the audience as his music is played, knowing full well, he says, that most people came to hear the Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, and not him.

Music Played in Today's Program

George Tsontakis (b. 1951): Violin Concerto No. 2; Stephen Copes, violin; Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Douglas Boyd, conductor; Koch International 7592

On This Day

Births

• 1868 - German composer Max von Schillings, in Duren

• 1892 - French composer Germaine Tailleferre, in Pau-St.-Maur

Deaths

• 1799 - Dutch composer, violinist and organist Pieter Hellendaal, 78, in Cambridge (England)

• 1986 - Swedish composer Dag Wiren, 80, in Stockholm

Premieres

• 1774 - Gluck: opera Iphigenia in Aulis, in Paris at the Palais Royale Opéra

• 1899 - Franck: String Quartet, in Paris

• 1936 - Berg: Violin Concerto, in Barcelona at the Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music, by the Pablo Casals Orchestra conducted by Hermann Scherchen with Louis Krasner (who had commissioned the work) as the soloist

• 1964 - Stravinsky: Fanfare for a New Theater, at the Inauguration of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center

• 1975 - Rameau: unfinished opera Les Boréades, in London. This was Rameau's last opera, composed in 1764 and left unfinished at the time of the composer's death. For the 1975 premiere in London, conductor John Eliot Gardiner prepared a performing edition of the score.

• 2000 - Kernis: Valentines for soprano and orchestra, in Minneapolis, with Renée Fleming and the Minnesota Orchestra, Eiji Oue conducting

• 2001 - Michael Daugherty: UFO for solo percussion and winds, in Denton, Texas, by Evelyn Glennie and the North Texas Wind Symphony, Eugene Migliaro Corporon conducting

• 2001 - Poul Ruders: Paganini Variations for guitar and orchestra, with soloist David Starobin and the Odense Symphony of Denmark

Others

• 1787 - Mozart finishes his String Quintet in C (K. 515) in Vienna. Mozart had offered this work on a subscription basis via announcements in the Wiener Zeitung on April 2, 5 and 9 of that year. due to the poor response, Mozart extended the offer June 25 through Jan. 1, 1789.

• 1851 - First documented American performance of Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture, at the Melodeon in Boston, during a Grand Symphony Concert conducted by C.C. Perkins