The Piano Concerto no.2 and the Violin Concerto From October 2006 till April 2007 I could work almost uninterrupted on my Second Piano Concerto. It developed into a full bodied virtuoso Concerto. Very suitable for a pianist like Sara Davis Buechner. Sara is a kind of artist which put her virtuosic technical ability in favor of her musical and poetic mastery on the keyboard. I heard her playing Rachmaninoff's First and I was swept of my feet. As the Concerto came to its thunderous ending and the applause swelled to a standing ovation I noticed that the audience agreed with me. She plays my Concerto with the same abundance. The first movement Andante appassionato starts with the piano solo exposing the main thought of this Concerto, taking it from the dark depths and sweeping it up to the exciting entrance of the Orchestra. Now the main theme is heard, which takes us via the bridge (later returning in the final of the Cadenza) to the D major second theme. This theme is related to a melody I worked on during my studies at the Conservatory of Music with a teacher named Kees Bornewasser from whom I learned some of the most important things in music : the enthusiasm and real love for the profession. Therefore I am much obliged to him. Several minutes, piano and orchestra develop the material which culminates in the Cadenza. Because of its length and because it is meant as both partly development and reprise, it ends into a Maestoso where Piano and Orchestra join their forces in a combination of both the first and second theme together at the same time. In the Adagio molto the atmosphere is completely different. A 'Brucknarian' introduction from the Orchestra leads to a short Cadenza of the piano and the exposition of the main theme. After a short intermezzo of a waltz Allegro scherzando, the main theme returns and this passage culminates into a tutti of the main theme which runs immediately into the third movement : Alla breve (in halves). A virtuoso finale where, half way, the piano 'remembers' the theme from the second movement but soon enough the initial tempo is back and hurries to the Maestoso grand finale: Piano and Orchestra joining together in the main first theme from the first movement of the Concerto leading to a virtuoso and excitingly brilliant stretto ending. As writing for the orchestra is one of my most favorite ways to spend my time working, I immediately began working on the Violin Concerto after I finished the Piano Concerto. I had no particular violinist in mind when I wrote the piece. No one particular alive that is. From my earliest childhood I can remember listening to Felix Ayo, Zino Francescati, David and Igor Oistrach, Jasha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Isaac Stern and others. This school of great melodic and dramatic capacity on the violin, together with the warm, souring and vibrant tone quality I had in my ear when I composed my Concerto. Terry Tam understands the language of this piece naturally and already at the first reading rehearsal he touched at once the right atmosphere and showed his mastery on his instrument. The Concerto opens Maestoso with four characteristic chord sequels that reappear throughout the piece. After that the violin opens with a short Cadenza leading into the Adagio molto: an introduction of one of the main themes introduced by the oboe. Then the violin sings, first hesitant only alternating F and E, in seconds, growing bolder every time and showing us a second theme developing until the reappearance of the first (oboe) theme now played by the violin. A stretto leads us to the third theme: the violin stressed into its highest octave with underneath the strings in a fearful tremolo. These themes alternate each other for a while as development after which the stressed third theme reappears, played full orchestra this time, culminating into an accelerando episode that leads the violin into its Cadenza. The Cadenza builds up toward the following Presto, which is a virtuoso counter piece for the slow first half of the Concerto. The solo part shows off in virtuoso octave and double stop playing from its highest octave to the lowest and back again. Halfway this movement the excitement subsides into a Moderato mesto: a remembrance of the hesitant theme in the beginning of the Concerto. After that the Presto movement is picket up and after the main theme has made his full orchestral comeback and the Presto is restarted again the movement is drawn to it's ending: in the initial Maestoso tempo the first chord sequels are heard again, interrupted by short Cadenzas for the violin with in the last bars the head of the main theme sounding for the last time in the French Horns.