Concerto in the American Style
I. Frenzied
II. With Quiet Intensity
III. Vigorously and with Abandon
Instrumentation: 3-2-3-3, 4-2-3-1, timp, 2 perc, pf, str
Duration: 21 minutes
"It's not a concerto in the traditional sense; no soloist competes with a mighty orchestra.
Rather, it highlights solo instruments and various instrument families. Refreshingly, too,
the music draws not on indigenous influences such as jazz but, according to program
notes, tried to be 'musically fresh and innovative through the use of tonality, polytonality,
and dissonance (and)...the use the vigorous rhythmic ideas.' In this, it succeeds
splendidly, reflecting extraordinary command of orchestral color...
Concerto in the American Style...was dynamite."
--Ken Keuffel, Jr. The Arizona Daily Star
"...vibrant...periodically puncuated by knife-edged full-orchestra blows...sharp
syncopations and frequent rhythmic change-ups. The strings...achieved both warmth
and bite as they negotiated Paulus' quick-step underpinnings...The accent was on
contrast in texture, color range and expression. It came not to the exclusion of
melody and harmony but with it. There was enough bi-tonality in the work to give it
some shading and darkness, but not so much as to make it shrill. Rather, it came off
as a taughly controlled and highly enjoyable roller-coaster ride...Soft but unsettled, [the
middle movement] unfolded like a wind-swept landscape to a theatrical climax
before
settling...Like the opening movement, [the final movement] crackled
with raucous energy and fireworks, building to a thunderous close."
--Daniel Buckley, Tucson Citizen
Publisher: Paulus Publications
Recordings: Promotional Recording Available
Performances: Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra
Commissioned by: the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and funded in part by a grant from the Flinn Foundation
World Premiere: Tucson Symphony Orchestra, April 30 and May 1, 1998
Conductor: George Hanson
