Rawsthorne: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 / Fantasy Overture: Corteges

Corteges was commissioned by the BBC for a 1945 Promenade Concert. Rawsthorne took the word to mean 'procession', and juxtaposed two tempos, one slow and solemn that remembers the war, while the other is quick and optimistic. It was a work that was appropriate to the time, and its powerful gestures still make the score a vivid and dramatic experience.

The First Violin Concerto was premiered in 1948. He had reconstructed the lost manuscript, the eventual work showing no sign of the war which had been its gestation period. He dedicated it to William Walton, and both had now added a major concerto to the violin repertoire. The score shows Rawsthorne's mastery of musical form, the usual four movements being compressed into two. That would be the formal description, but it could well be described as being in five linked movements, the contrasts marked, though in general the first three are slow and the last two are fast.

The Second Concerto, another BBC commission came from 1956, and is in the more familiar three movements, the final being a theme with variations. There was a significant change between the two works, a certain bitter taste being introduced, then the surprise of a convoluted piece of popular music to end the work. In every sense it is a virtuoso score for both soloist and orchestra.

"The performances bring out the best in this intense and very engaging music"
Fanfare

"here is an enormously rewarding issue as well as a bargain of the first order"
Gramophone

"Hirsch conjures enchantment throughout, catching the zest of Rawsthorne's Bartok and Hindemith-inspired scherzo writing as alluring as she evokes the passionate lyricism"
- The Strad