First performed by Joseph Szigeti in the same year it was composed (1928 in the Soviet Union), Casella’s violin concerto is not a product of the “roaring Twenties.” He did not intend to upend the instrumental-concerto genre – he wrote a diversified, sunny, bubbly piece of music with ingratiating cantilenas in the lyrical sections and virtuosic solos in the incisively rhythmical fast passages.
This is a piece rewarding to the violinist and the orchestra alike – not least in the favour it finds with audiences.
