Concerto in E for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 11 (1981)

I. Allegro; cadenza; Largo
II. Presto; cadenza; [Adagio]-Allegretto-[Adagio]

duration ca. 18 minutes

This Concerto is composed serially, in the sense that it is made up entirely of permutations of four motives; but the motives are not twelve-tone rows. They contain, respectively, three, four, five and six notes, and employ non- tempered intervals. All four motives are stated in the soloist's first seven bars: E C F# D# G; G F Ab Gb C Eb; Eb D B C; C D G .
Structurally the Concerto follows the general pattern of the Berg Concerto: four movements arranged in two pairs, each pair linked by a cadenza. It can also be viewed as a single sonata movement, with the Largo and Presto forming the development section, and the recapitulation reversing the order of the themes; or as a continuous set of variations on the four motives.
The work is predominantly slow and quiet, although each section contains large climaxes. It is not a virtuoso display concerto; indeed, the soloist is often silent, and has more opportunity to impress the listeners with a range of tone colors and purity of intonation than with any of the more customary kinds of fireworks.

view (left click) or download (right click) score in PDF format
download recording in MP3 format