# Wynton Marsalis' "Violin Concerto"



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Not impressed at all.

It sounds like a pastiche of Copeland and Gershwin.

I can't help thinking, that if anyone else, without the celebrity and notoriety of Marsalis, release this, it would quickly fade into obscurity.

But not only am I not impressed, this actually angers me.

There are so many great, young, creative, composers actually adding to this living, evolving art form, that will remain in relative obscurity.

This one Marsalis recording, will almost assuredly outsell the releases of several contemporary composers' 2019 releases combined.


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

Well I don't blame the composer, he is only doing the best he can. 
Who i am blaming in this mess is Decca, the conductor and the artist.
Agree, Wynton had a huge advantage of knowing the right people to get his work recorded, over the 1000's other syms, concertos, etc works written in the past 20 yrs of so, these countless unknown composers who feel they have a work at least as good as Wynton's here. Which ain;'t saying much...
Wynton got bumped way ahead of the line only because he knows people. 
He is a famous jazz musician. 


Why would Decca agree to make a record,,although layout fees are not really that much, as perhaps the up and comming Benedetti may have accepted the preimere for her own notoriety and so accepted w/o any fees. 
the Orch may have accepted for anyones guess. Must have been painful for the Philadelphia members. Cristan may also accepted w/o any fees, just to get his name on a big label with a big name band. 

What a mess. 
The CM industry is so polluted with fraud, gimmick and lies. 
As this release so well proves.
I really hate the CM industry. 

As I say I completely exempt Wynton from this mess, as he only did his very best. The CM industry is the problem.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I have to say I prefer Alma Deutscher's.


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

I very much wanted to like this, but found myself incapable. Very disappointing.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't think it is in competition with cutting edge contemporary music - different audiences - so there is no need to be angry on that score. Marsalis plays a fairly old style of jazz but with considerable sophistication. His venture into classical music was never going to be "modern". There was a TV film made about his writing of the piece with Benedetti that was quite interesting. I don't hate the piece, perhaps partly because the film warmed me up to Wynton's and Nicola's adventure in developing it. But is isn't really music for me.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

paulbest said:


> Well I don't blame the composer, he is only doing the best he can.
> Who i am blaming in this mess is Decca, the conductor and the artist.
> Agree, Wynton had a huge advantage of knowing the right people to get his work recorded, over the 1000's other syms, concertos, etc works written in the past 20 yrs of so, these countless unknown composers who feel they have a work at least as good as Wynton's here. Which ain;'t saying much...
> Wynton got bumped way ahead of the line only because he knows people.
> ...


Ha ha you must be joking

she would have spent 6 months learning the concerto and she is a top name. I am sure she did well. Many will buy the CD just because she is the artist.


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## Durendal (Oct 24, 2018)

paulbest said:


> What a mess.
> The CM industry is so polluted with fraud, gimmick and lies.
> As this release so well proves.
> I really hate the CM industry.
> ...


Could you elaborate? I'm really curious as to what you're referring.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

stomanek said:


> she would have spent 6 months learning the concerto and she is a top name. I am sure she did well. Many will buy the CD just because she is the artist.


Benedetti is indeed a top rank violinist, although not quite as good as the greatest of her generation. But she is also someone who gets involved in cultural exchanges, teaching and projects like this Marsalis one. She doesn't have a record of interest in contemporary music but has added many interesting initiatives to her career. She worked closely with Marsalis in developing the work and at one point demanded that he make it more difficult to play. I actually do quite like the movement in the linked clip. It isn't some sort of cliche ridden hark back to the 19th century for one thing! You can hear influences from the first half of the 20th century but the movement is quite a patchwork. OK, it isn't cutting edge avant garde or even close to that (it reminds me a little of the world of Walton's concerto) but I don't think anyone would expect that from Marsalis and Benedetti. I haven't heard to other movements - how long is the concerto?? - so it is hard to say more.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> how long is the concerto??


I don't know, but while listening, it seemed interminable.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Simon Moon said:


> Not impressed at all.
> 
> It sounds like a pastiche of Copeland and Gershwin.
> 
> ...


Doesn't sound too bad to me, I don't see what is to get angry about. I hear elements of a lot of different music in the clip, certainly not just Gershwin and Copland. Perhaps you have become somewhat biased towards anything tonal in classical music?

For me I find it much more enjoyable than any atonal concertos out there. I have come to believe that atonal composers are devolving art, not evolving it.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I think it is just hard to be fresh, inspired and original if you avoid any of the routes that contemporary composers of note have taken. It isn't about being biased against tonal music. Not for me, anyway. But I also quite liked the movement linked to (even if not enough to search out the rest of the work - which must be very long to almost fill a CD). In this case the freshness it achieves is probably down to Marsalis not really knowing much classical music: he comes at it from a different angle.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The last Marsalis album I liked was Black Codes released on the mid 80s. I don't understand the appeal of the retro approach.


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