Viola Concerto : Work information

Composers
Dmitry Lvovich Klebanov ( Music, Images,)
Performed by
Mela Tenenbaum (Viola), Philharmonia Virtuosi, Richard Kapp (Conductor)

This work

Work name
Viola Concerto
Work number
n/a
Key
n/a
Genre
A
Composed
1983-01-01 02:01:00

This recording

Label
Essay
Producer
Silas Brown
Engineer
Michael Mermagen
Recording date
n/a

The Composers

Dmitry Lvovich Klebanov

Track listing

  • Allegro 11:56 min
  • Intermezzo 7:23 min
  • Rondo 12:51 min

Notes

In 1983, the violinist and violist Mela Tenenbaum met the Ukranian composer Dmitri Klebanov and agreed to play his violin concerto, last performed thirty years previously. The performance inspired the composer to write a new viola concerto for Tenenbaum, an intensely personal work imbued with a lifetime's worth of pain.

On the advice of Igor Blazhokov, Music Director of the chamber orchestra, Perpetuum Mobile, Klebanov confined his instrumentation to 13 players. The reason? When recording for the radio, performers in an ensemble of thirteen of fewer would be paid four times as much as those in larger groups!

The resulting concerto was premiered by Tenenbaum and Perpetuum Mobile in Klebanov's home town of Kharkov. Written with his friend's talents in mind, the composer created a large-scale work, frequently full of rhythmic energy, that explores the viola's unique sonorities. The lyrical Intermezzo is particularly attractive.