Concerto for Orchestra

My Concerto for Orchestra (2007) is a twenty-minute work in which different sections of the orchestra, as well as individual solos and duos from within the orchestra, are highlighted as the music unfolds.  The work continues my interest in two-movement forms that began with my Cello Concerto (1991), and was later developed in Sortilège (1996) and Symphony (Broken Consort) (2004).  In these works, and in the Concerto for Orchestra, each movement is given equal weight and importance with the second developing earlier material and taking it in new directions.

The two-movement form of the Concerto for Orchestra derives from a symphonic sonata structure, reshaping the traditional four-movement form and combining this with aspects of sonata form, a tradition that goes back to Liszt, Schoenberg and Sibelius:

1st movement
  (i)   exposition of ideas - dramatic and sudden
  (ii)  scherzo and development 1 - resolute

2nd movement
  (iii)  adagio - calm and unhurried
  (iv)  development 2 with recapitulation - intense and energetic

The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by the Musikalische Akademie des Nationaltheatre-Orchesters Mannheim with the support of Die Landesbank Baden-Württemberg for its first two performances on 31st March and 1st April 2008 conducted by Friedemann Layer.  The score is dedicated in friendship and admiration to Ronald Zollman.

John Casken