Concerti Grossi

[teamsaint]

Further to our esteemed host ferney's expressed preference for the Brahms Double concerto over his other concertos, I thought that a thread on concertos for more than one instrument might be interesting; I'm sure that there has been passing reference in other threads but can't find a specific thread.

We could split into (i) multiple same instruments (Vivaldi for four violins, Poulenc for two pianos) and (ii) a mixture of instruments (Brahms and Delius doubles, Beethoven and Tippett triples), and which combinations work better than others, if we get that far.

Over to you.
I'll think about some of my favourites and why I think they work later.

I’m still looking for a good app for doing Venn Diagrams on message boards......

[Pulcinella]

I’m still looking for a good app for doing Venn Diagrams on message boards......

Not too sure what element of overlap you'd want to portray, ts: threads or instruments in concertos?

For what it's worth (and with apologies in advance to MickyD, who I'm hoping will alert us all to many delightful baroque concertos we should listen to), here are some of my own favourites.

(A) Same instrument
JSB: 2 violins (well, it has to feature, doesn't it?)
Poulenc: 2 pianos (such infectious gaiety)
RVW: 2 pianos (prefer to the single-piano version)
Vivaldi: 4 violins, Op 3, no 10

(B) Different instruments
JSB: Double (violin and oboe)
Britten: Double (violin and viola)
Martinu: Double (two string orchestras, piano and timps)
Tippett: Triple (violin, viola, cello)

Then there are all the Vagn Holmboe Chamber concertos.......

[Bryn]

At the risk of excommunication, I would mention the PDQ Bach Sinfonia Concertante S. 98.6 I first heard it in a BBC radio broadcast, way back in the early '60s. Not everything Peter Schickele does tickles my fancy, but this still does:

The 'music' starts around 6'35" in.

[Richard Barrett]

On CPO there are now five discs of Telemann's concertos for mixed groups of soloists, I'm not sure how many there'll be when the series is completed (it follows an eight-disc series of wind concertos, many of which involve multiples of the same instrument in the concertino). Some of these works are among Telemann's finest and most memorable, as I'm sure anyone who knows them will agree. I'm currently listening to the first volume which contains the well known concerto for flute, oboe d'amore and viola d'amore.

Other composers of concerti grossi that shouldn't be overlooked are Heinichen, Graupner, Fasch, Avison and Bonporti. I guess the closest modern equivalent to surrounding a trio-sonata group or suchlike with a ripieno is the genre of works for string quartet and orchestra, some beautiful examples by Martinu and Feldman and (to my mind) less interesting ones by Lachenmann and Schoenberg (the latter an arrangement of course).

Besides which, other works that spring to mind are Dutilleux's 2nd Symphony with its seven soloists, Berio's concerto for two pianos, Takemitsu's Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra, Henze's Double Concerto for oboe, harp and strings... all of these are among their composers' best work I think.