Rodolphe Kreutzer: Violin Concerto No. 19 in D Minor – full score (NXP017)

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Instrumentation: 1.2.2.2 - 2.2.3.0 - violin solo - strings
74 pages

The Violin Concerto No. 19 in D minor was described by the musicologist Boris Schwarz in these words: “next to Viotti’s 22nd and Rode’s 7th Concertos ... the most perfect example of the French Violin Concerto”.

The Moderato first movement tutti opens in majestic style, though soon moving also to quieter moments. The soloist enters with the dramatic flourish with which the orchestra opened the movement, but this immediately dissolves to a dolce response. A dolce theme is followed by an extended passage of triplets and then sixteenth notes (semiquavers), which leads to a tutti and the development section. The dramatic opening is repeated as are the singing passages, and the movement ends with vigour in the orchestra.

The stately Andante features the soloist in several honeyed themes on the mellow G string and the movement ends with an extended cadenza. The finale is an elfin Rondo (Allegretto) in the usual 2/4 time, full of good cheer and sweetness, a noble end to Kreutzer’s fine series of concertos.

Bruce R. Schueneman