Vivaldi's Bicycle, for cello and baroque orchestra (2009)
Duration: 12:00 minutes
Instrumentation: solo cello, 2 oboes, bassoon, harpsichord, strings
Premiere: December 17, 2009 by the Albany Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Alan Miller
Notes:
When I was given the opportunity to write a concerto for cello with baroque orchestra, I was immediately excited by the possibilities. The sounds of my favorite 17th- and 18th-century music immediately came to mind and I dove into listening to and researching as much baroque music as I could get my hands on. As I immersed myself in that expressive world, I kept returning to the music of Vivaldi. Familiar pieces suddenly sounded novel and eccentric, especially when performed by phenomenal early music ensembles.
In my concerto, I have tried to capture these impressions of Vivaldi’s music as “wild and irregular” by bringing his spinning lines, intricate and intertwining voices, and virtuoso sense of drama and flair into my own musical landscape. My hope is that Vivaldi’s Bicycle reflects a lovingly rendered vision of the Red Priest’s bygone Venice and the music we have to imagine it by.
