Violin Concerto (Kernis)

The violin concerto has received considerable praise from music critics. Melinda Bargreen of The Seattle Times described the piece as a "lengthy, complex and assertive" that "demands almost superhuman agility and stamina" of the soloist. She added, "Dotted with cadenzas that put the soloist back in the forefront, the concerto demonstrated Kernis' command of the complete orchestral palette, from cataclysmic brass passages to otherworldly solo harmonics over hushed strings. He made imaginative and inventive use of percussion, harp and tuba. And in the wildly eclectic third movement, Kernis pushed the soloist toward the frontiers of technique, with double-stop runs and a final cadenza so scarily difficult that audience members were gasping in disbelief."^[3] Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News similarly observed, "The solo part demands jaw-dropping virtuosity. I wonder whether any other violin concert has such extensive double-stop writing — playing two strings at once, in rapidly shifting intervals, often at breathtaking speeds. Although there's lovely lyrical writing in the slow movement, much of the solo part scurries and leaps with abandon. The outer movements have unaccompanied cadenzas, the finale including skittering mixes of bowed and plucked notes."^[4]

Andrew Mellor of Gramophone was more tempered in his praise, however, remarking, "There’s some entertaining, dazzling, smile-inducing, toe-tapping music here but I can't give you a cast-iron promise that there's much more. Aaron Jay Kernis is the preeminent orchestral showman of the age and his meeting of minds with Heifetz's representative on earth James Ehnes has resulted in a concerto that goes through just about every motion possible."^[5]

A recording of the violin concerto, performed by Ehnes and the Seattle Symphony conducted by Ludovic Morlot, was released through Onyx Classics on October 12, 2018.^[5][6]