| This thesis project is a concerto for violin and orchestra. The concerto reflects my Romanian and American cultural influences by incorporating their specific traits in the design of themes, tonal regions, rhythms, orchestration, and forms.;The instrumentation is consciously geared towards an efficient support of and dialogue with the soloist, within the limits of a chamber orchestra performance: 1 piccolo, 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet in B flat, 1 bassoon; 1 French horn in F, 1 trumpet in B flat, 1 trombone; 1 timpani, 2 percussion; solo violin and strings. The work is in three movements and the duration is approximately 30 minutes.;Movement I, Rhapsody for Maria, has a rhapsodic character. Nevertheless, the structure of the movement resembles sonata form, with contrasting sections of Romanian and American inspiration introduced in an exposition, varied in a development and solo violin cadenza, then recalled in a recapitulation with an accelerando tempo. The unifying motif of this movement, influencing both themes and tonal regions, is the prime pitch set (016) corresponding to the first three notes of Leonard Bernstein's motif "Maria" from West Side Story.;Movement II, Voices of the Past, is in moderato tempo. The structure of the movement is an arch form of ABCB'A'. A sixteenth century-like contrapuntal theme introduced in section A precedes a fragment-by-fragment recalled lullaby in section B. These "voices of the past" are heard together in a culminating fugato in section C. After a gradual release of the tension during the last two sections, the solo violin closes the movement with an open cadence.;Movement III, East Side Blues, begins atonally in contrast to the previous two tonal movements. It is in an ABA' ternary form, plus a coda. Section A starts allegro with pantonal fragments of themes in various instruments, including percussion. The motifs are based on the prime pitch set (0145), common to both the harmonic minor scale typical to Eastern Europe and the American blues scale. Section B has the form and the harmony of a 12-bar blues progression. In section A', the solo violin resumes the transformation of the pantonal themes. The tension is only released during the coda, when the pantonal themes further transform into tonal and recognizable short Romanian and American musical quotes. The violin cyclically completes the concerto with final chords constituted from the three notes (016) of the "Maria" theme of the first movement.;The choice of the violin as the solo instrument is the result of a request made by a musician friend. This choice significantly influenced the search for appropriate themes. In addition to a trip to Bucharest to gather a series of LPs of Romanian folk songs interpreted by a beloved Romanian singer, Maria Tanase, the research for the concert included various other sources: Bartok's rhapsodies, concertos for violin and string quartets; Enescu's Romanian rhapsodies; Hindemith, Stravinsky, Brahms, Shostakovich, Ligeti, Penderecki, Bruch, Schnittke, and Corigliano's violin concertos. |
