Comments

I can't help thinking you already know the answer to your question. Barton is one of my faves. I'll bet that's a good disc. I look forward to hearing Wm Bolcom's concerto sometime. "Violinconcertorepertoireknowledge" reminds me of German class. Just kidding :) Well, the answer is simple. Because no one will programm the other concertos. I love "I profeti" from Castelnuovo Tedesco, went to Washington DC, where I made a copy of Heifetz part with comments of the composer himself, but guess what orchestras ask me to play... Tchaikovksy, Brahms, Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelssohn... And that is because the audience comes when Brahms is on the program, not with an unknown composer. Try getting Penderecki programmed. It has been a dream of mine to play these concertos with orchestra, no chance!
Bram, I promise, if you find an orchestra that is willing to do the Castelnuovo Tedesco, I am your violinist. I will play it. By the way, listen to Mr. Perlman's recording as well, very interesting to see what the differences are between Heifetz and Perlman.
Another problem is that a lot of orchestra parts for the more unknown concertos are rental parts and most orchestras can not pay the inordinate high fees that come with performing these in concert. But again, if your orchestra wants to do Castelnuovo Tedesco, give me a ring! :-) All of the above is very true. Even the big recording stars often have to persuade, or even beg their record companies, to allow them to record rare or comtemporary pieces. More people want to buy recordings of the Tchaikovsky then they do of the Castelnuovo Tedesco concerto. It all has to do with money!! Thanks for your reactions. It is true that it is difficult to play a rare violinconcerto with one of my 5 or 6 amateurorchestra’s, because it is more expensive to hire it and because the conductor only knows the well known violinconcerto’s, pianoconcerto’s, celloconcerto’s and symfonies. I begin to play the well known violinconcerto’s and symfonies for the second time, the third time. I nearly begin to feel me a professional. Now an orchestra has planned to play the 7th symfonie of Dvorak, which I have played 3 times before. But there are enough other amatuerorchetra’s so I choose another. Why they seldom play the 5th or 6th or 1-4th symfonie of Dvorak? His 8th and 9th I also have played twice. I have also played the violinconcerto’s 2th Profoviev, 2e Wieniawski and 2th Bartok. One time an orchestra asked a solist (Frederieke Saeys) if and what she wanted to play with us. That was a big mistake, because she said……Beethoven. Also in the book of the 133 candidates of the Elisabethcompetition there were few surprises what the candidates would like to play in the final. Nearly always a well known concerto. In the Elisabethcompetition (if you reach the final) it was a big chance to play a rare violinconcerto with a symfonyorchestra, because the candidates know that when they were asked by professional orchestra’s after the Elsiabethcompetition they HAVE to play a standardconcerto for moneyreasons, because otherwise not enough people go to the concerthall. But they also could make a combination of a well known symfonie, a well known ouverture and 1 difficult unknown violinconcerto. Elisabethcompetitionwinner Nikolaj Znaider had made a cd with 1th Bruch and the rare violinconcerto of Nielsen. I have this cd, but have never listened to his 1th Bruch, because I know that piece too good and I am not interested in his interpretation. Even when he would play that in a concerthall with a well known orchetra, I would not go to that concerthall. Elisabeth nr.2 Albrecht Breuninger made a cd with the 2th, 3th and 4th violinconcerto of Karol Josef Lipinski, all rare. He will soon release a cd with 8 pieces of 9 minutes (one of them is Chant d’hiver, which I have from Aaron Rosand) of Ysaye with violin and orchestra, most of them never recorded before. So it is possible.
I try to lobby for rare violinconcerto’s in the amateurorchestra’s (of different level) I am playing in, because the audience are friends and colleges who don’t know much about classical music and the violinconcerto of Brahms is for them rare, just like the 2th Calenuovo-Tedesco with is also rare for them. 2 amateurstudentorchestra’s played the violinconcerto’s of Barber and Korngold, but I was too old and not good enough to play with them.