Mallet Concerto
percussion concerto by Ned Rorem
The Mallet Concerto is a concerto for mallet percussion instruments and chamber orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. It was first performed by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Madison Symphony Orchestra under the conductor John DeMain in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 27, 2004.
Composition
Background
The concerto was completed in 2003. Typical of Rorem's late-period orchestral works, the piece calls for no unpitched percussion instruments, which was stipulated by the composer before he agreed to write the concerto for Evelyn Glennie. Rorem elaborated on this point in the score program notes, remarking, "After years of garnishing my orchestral works with every type of gong and drum, I've concluded that non-pitched percussion is superfluous, even in Beethoven. I am morally against all cymbal crashes, and feel that snares and bongos are strictly ornamental." He added, "The four elements of music are melody, harmony, counterpoint, and rhythm. Rhythm is the most dispensable." The concerto has a duration of roughly 24 minutes and is cast in seven movements.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for a solo percussionist and a chamber orchestra comprising flute, oboe, clarinets, horn, trumpet, trombone, and strings. The soloist's percussion battery consists of vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, and xylophone.
Reception
The piece has been praised by music critics.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mallet Concerto” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.