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- Kenneth Leighton
Viola and Harp Concerto (1952)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Programme Note
Kenneth Leighton: Concerto for Viola, Harp, Strings and Timpani, Op. 15
Prelude
Nocturne
Finale
This Concerto was written in 1952 and first performed in the following year by Frederick Riddle and the Harvey Phillips String Orchestra, who have also given broadcasts of the work on the BBC.
Each of the three movements tries to express a particular mood in a concise fashion, exploring also the unusual combination of solo instruments.
The Prelude is dark in colour and intense in mood, both subjects being announced by the solo viola, over a mixture of five-eight and six-eight rhythm. The opening rhythmic figure plays an important part throughout.
The harp is introduced for the first time in the slow Nocturne, which bears a quotation from Keat's Sonnet "To Sleep" -
"Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes."
Solo timpani announce the melodic and rhythmic figure which dominates the lively Finale. This is more straightforward in harmonic style than the previous movements though the second subject (again on solo viola) introduces a note of chromatic intensity. Discussion of the material slows down into a short cadenza for viola and harp, which makes references to the theme of the Nocturne. The final section recapitulates the opening themes in faster tempo, and in a more contrapuntal manner.
© Kenneth Leighton
Prelude
Nocturne
Finale
This Concerto was written in 1952 and first performed in the following year by Frederick Riddle and the Harvey Phillips String Orchestra, who have also given broadcasts of the work on the BBC.
Each of the three movements tries to express a particular mood in a concise fashion, exploring also the unusual combination of solo instruments.
The Prelude is dark in colour and intense in mood, both subjects being announced by the solo viola, over a mixture of five-eight and six-eight rhythm. The opening rhythmic figure plays an important part throughout.
The harp is introduced for the first time in the slow Nocturne, which bears a quotation from Keat's Sonnet "To Sleep" -
"Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes."
Solo timpani announce the melodic and rhythmic figure which dominates the lively Finale. This is more straightforward in harmonic style than the previous movements though the second subject (again on solo viola) introduces a note of chromatic intensity. Discussion of the material slows down into a short cadenza for viola and harp, which makes references to the theme of the Nocturne. The final section recapitulates the opening themes in faster tempo, and in a more contrapuntal manner.
© Kenneth Leighton