Concerto in the Old Style for Three Violins and Strings
Douglas Townsend
About this work:
World premiere on January 8, 1995, in Philadelphia, PA, at the Holy Trinity Church by the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, who commissioned it. The reviewer found the new work to be "in the tradition of such composers as Benjamin Britten, Ottorino Respighi and Igor Stravinsky who sometimes like to layer their own musical takes on antique musical sources. Like theirs, Townsend's piece could never be mistaken for something written 300 years ago." (Phil Inquirer 1/10/95) "Townsend followed the form of the concerto grosso but there was nothing Baroque about the style. The interactions of the three violins were more complex than the interactions you would hear in a Baroque concerto grosso, and
the final rondo included passages in which the three violins played in two different keys at the same time." (Tom Purdom, Classical, Baroque, Etc. column, Philadelphia Welcomat, 1/95) This piece is not too difficult. The first movement was well-performed by Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School Intermediate Orchestra, March 17, 2001, in the Murray Kahn Theater, NYC. ("surprisingly mature sound quality," Stuyvesant Spectator, 4/2/01) This work was premiered in its piano reduction version (2011) on 4/26/11 at Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, by an ensemble led by pianist David Oei with three solo violinists: Eriko Sato, and students Soohyun Choi, and Tzu-En Lee. (See the piano reduction version in this list of my compositions.)
Version: string orchestra
Year composed: 1994
Duration: 00:15:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:String Orchestra with Soloist(s)
Instrumentation: 1 Strings (General), ,3 Violin soloist(s)