Viola Concerto (Gould)
Morton Gould composed his Viola Concerto in 1943. The composition had to wait for nearly a decade for its premiere, in a 1952 studio recording with Milton Katims and the NBC Symphony.[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/arts/music/02katims.html?_r=0 Milton Katims obituary] in The New York Times, 02/03/06 It didn't receive its public premiere until 1983, when it was performed by Robert Glazer and the Louisville Orchestra led by Lawrence Leighton Smith.[http://www.allmusic.com/composition/concerto-for-viola-orchestra-mc0002357574 Composition profile] by Joseph Stevenson in allmusic.com
The concerto lasts approximately 30 minutes and consists of three movements chained without a break. It is a lyrical composition with a distinct American character ending in a hoedown dance:
- Moderately fast with rhapsodic vigor and drive —
- Slowly with lyrical dignity — Cadenza —
- Dance (fast, with lusty verve and gusto)