Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61

The score carries a mysterious Spanish inscription, 'Aquí está encerrada el alma de.....' (Here is enshrined the soul of.....), with five dots instead of the conventional three, and Elgar never publicly identified whose soul he meant. The first movement opens with a long orchestral exposition presenting six related themes before the solo violin enters, initially completing a phrase the orchestra had begun quietly. The final movement contains an unusual accompanied cadenza in which muted strings play a pizzicato tremolando effect, a kind of sustained murmuring, while the soloist revisits themes from earlier in the work, before the concerto closes with a full orchestral restatement.

What to listen for

In the third movement, watch for the point where a conventional ending seems to approach but then gives way to the accompanied cadenza: the strings begin a quiet, rapidly repeated pizzicato tremolo underneath the solo violin, creating a texture found almost nowhere else in the concerto repertoire. After the cadenza, the soloist plays a long trill that seems to signal the end, but the cadenza continues for several more bars before the orchestra and violin together restate the opening theme of the whole work.

Recommended rendition

Hilary Hahn with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis (Sony Classical, 2004) has been frequently cited for its clarity and structural command of the long solo line.

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