Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 12 (1954)

Description:

The Concerto for Orchestra was completed in Athens during the summer of 1954 and marked the composer’s first conscious shift towards newer musical trends, particularly a form of twelve-tone technique, which becomes most evident in the third movement, Adagio. The entire work is based on a musical core consisting of a “minor third” and an “augmented seventh,” initially presented by the brass instruments. This core later serves as a unifying element throughout the four movements and transforms, especially in the final movement, into a melody reminiscent of a Greek folk song.

As a musical structure, the Concerto for Orchestra, which derives its title from the soloistic treatment of the orchestral instruments, is generally rooted in traditional musical forms, albeit adapted to the aesthetic demands of the composer at that time.

Thus, the initial Allegro, following a brief brass introduction, is written in a relatively free form, with three main themes and a coda, and it transitions seamlessly into the second movement, Allegro vivo—a fugato approaching sonata form but characterised as a vibrant and rhythmic scherzo. The subsequent Adagio is a cantilena with broad melodies and dramatic climaxes, again connecting without interruption to the Finale, Allegro molto, a piece with frequent expressive shifts that overall resembles the rondo form.

-This is a near-verbatim translation of Sicilianos’s Greek text.