Rhapsody for violin and orchestra
Reviews
"Like so many before him, Beck drew for inspiration for 2016's Rhapsody from Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. After being premiered in Ukraine in 2016 and in the United States two years later, this iteration finds Dora Dimitrova in the soloist's role, with a small orchestra of strings, harp, winds, and percussion her accompaniment. Opening in a manner that recalls John Adams, the seven-minute piece is elevated by Dimitrova's soaring violin and the painterly backdrop she emotes against. Once again, this compact standalone would fit seamlessly into any symphony orchestra's concert set-list."
- textura (Apr 2025)
This work was premiered in Lviv, Ukraine, 5 November 2016 by the Lemberg Sinfonietta, Cesare Della Sciucca, conductor, with Mykola Haviuk, violin, in a festival of new music produced by KLK New Music.
The Louisville Orchestra, Teddy Abrams, conductor, gave the American premiere 11-13 October 2018 in Louisville, KY and New Albany, IN, with Robert Simonds, soloist.
Rhapsody is scored for a small orchestra: strings with harp plus wind quintet and percussion. The music begins quietly and soon the solo violin enters with a lyrical theme that features a prominent upper neighbor motive. This theme expands and develops until it returns an octave higher at the first climactic moment of the piece. The climax then fades and dissolves into the next section of the composition, which provides certain contrasting melodic material. This section then leads to an aggressive, second climactic moment, one that brings a return of the opening mood. The return features sustained bell-like harmonics in the violins, coupled with softly ringing tones in the harp and percussion. The solo violin presents some variations on the principal lyrical theme, followed by a restatement of the first climactic moment of the piece. This time the climax is extended into a short coda before the music ends with a sweeping flourish.
Rhapsody may be purchased below or is available on a rental basis from:
The Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music
The Free Library of Philadelphia
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1116
tel (215) 686-5313
fleisher@freelibrary.org
- Instrumentation:
- 1111/1000/1 perc/hp/violin solo/stgs
- Date completed:
- 2016
- Duration:
- 6:00
- Audio:
Rhapsody for violin and orchestra
- Publisher:
- Fleisher Collection (rental agent) [search catalog for "Jeremy Beck"]
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