Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Alan Bush – Violin Concerto (1948)
Mareen Smith (violin)
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Keefe (conductor)
BBC Radio broadcast.
“This concerto is dedicated to Max Rostel, who gave the first performance on the 25th August, 1949. Alan Bush said that the violin is intended to represent the individual; the orchestra, world society. And the work, as it unfolds, suggest the individual struggles and his [sic] final absorption into society for the common good. The concerto is in three movements, which follow each other without a break.” (BBC Broadcast commentary)
“[In ‘The Crisis of Modern Music’ (1946),] Bush explained his so- called ‘thematic’ method of composition which involved the thematic significance of every note written. The common ground this shares with Schonberg’s twelve-note method hardly needs stressing. Indeed, some sort of serial melodic structure can be discerned in many of Bush’s works, for example the Violin Concerto of 1948, which employs twelve-note themes, although in a tonal context. In the slow movement of this work the order of the note series is adhered to quite strictly, but common chords are clearly implied. Thus near the beginning of the slow movement a succession of third, G minor, E major, C minor, B minor and F major appear. There are other, similar common chord forms, a variant of one of which occurs in the first movement in a fanfare-like sequence (D major, B flat minor, E minor and A flat major triads). This sequence is then extensively developed. Such writing is typical of the composer’s movement away from his earlier ‘central-European’ style.
Though the music is continuous, the work is cast in three sections. A short, cadenza-like introduction from the solo violin precedes an interestingly scored orchestral section of pulsating energy. The soloist joins in this exciting episode before introducing an appealing, lyrical section more serious in mood. Over sustained chords the violin soars upwards in a series of rhapsodic passages before a return is made to the pulsating rhythms of the first main section. The slow movement [beginning c. 12:07] is remarkable for the soloist’s cadenza-like passages with orchestral interjections and accompanying figures of subtle significance. The third movement, which imaginatively emerges from the slow movement [beginning c. 21:05], uses material related to the first movement. The music in the finale thus provides a formally satisfying link with what has gone before, helping to create an overall design that is typical of the composer’s musical thinking." (Peter Lamb)
Image: Bust of Alan Bush by Ian Walters
Alan Bush – Violin Concerto (1948)
Mareen Smith (violin)
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Keefe (conductor)
BBC Radio broadcast.
“This concerto is dedicated to Max Rostel, who gave the first performance on the 25th August, 1949. Alan Bush said that the violin is intended to represent the individual; the orchestra, world society. And the work, as it unfolds, suggest the individual struggles and his [sic] final absorption into society for the common good. The concerto is in three movements, which follow each other without a break.” (BBC Broadcast commentary)
“[In ‘The Crisis of Modern Music’ (1946),] Bush explained his so- called ‘thematic’ method of composition which involved the thematic significance of every note written. The common ground this shares with Schonberg’s twelve-note method hardly needs stressing. Indeed, some sort of serial melodic structure can be discerned in many of Bush’s works, for example the Violin Concerto of 1948, which employs twelve-note themes, although in a tonal context. In the slow movement of this work the order of the note series is adhered to quite strictly, but common chords are clearly implied. Thus near the beginning of the slow movement a succession of third, G minor, E major, C minor, B minor and F major appear. There are other, similar common chord forms, a variant of one of which occurs in the first movement in a fanfare-like sequence (D major, B flat minor, E minor and A flat major triads). This sequence is then extensively developed. Such writing is typical of the composer’s movement away from his earlier ‘central-European’ style.
Though the music is continuous, the work is cast in three sections. A short, cadenza-like introduction from the solo violin precedes an interestingly scored orchestral section of pulsating energy. The soloist joins in this exciting episode before introducing an appealing, lyrical section more serious in mood. Over sustained chords the violin soars upwards in a series of rhapsodic passages before a return is made to the pulsating rhythms of the first main section. The slow movement [beginning c. 12:07] is remarkable for the soloist’s cadenza-like passages with orchestral interjections and accompanying figures of subtle significance. The third movement, which imaginatively emerges from the slow movement [beginning c. 21:05], uses material related to the first movement. The music in the finale thus provides a formally satisfying link with what has gone before, helping to create an overall design that is typical of the composer’s musical thinking." (Peter Lamb)
Image: Bust of Alan Bush by Ian Walters
