The Violin Concerto, Op. 23, is a three-movement concertante composition for violin and orchestra written from 1945 to 1946 by the Swedish composer Dag Wirén. The piece premiered on 10 April 1947 in Gothenburg, Sweden, with Clarence Raybould conducting the Gothenburg Orchestral Society; the soloist was the Swedish violinist . The Violin Concerto is a rare example of Wirén—the idiom of whom was primarily neo-classical—embracing a "full-blooded" neo-romantic style; it is, with its "greater depth of expression, ... in the spirit of" Jean Sibelius. In a 1979 radio interview, Wirén characterized the Violin Concerto as one of the best pieces he had composed
Structure The Violin Concerto is in three movements. They are as follows:
Instrumentation The Violin Concerto is scored the following instruments:
Soloist: violin Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in ??), and 2 bassoons Brass: 4 horns (in ??), 2 trumpets (in ??), 3 trombones, and tuba Percussion: timpani + other percussion Strings: violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and harp
published the piece in 1948.
Recordings The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Violin Concerto: ConductorOrchestraSoloistTimeRecording venueLabel Swedish Radio Orchestra 195318:27Swedish Radio Discopaedia Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra 198520:30Stockholm Concert Hall
Notes, references, and sources