Concerto for Concertina and Strings, by James Cohn

[wim wakker]

The 'infamous' concerto...... I believe it was funded by the NY arts council. According to the composer, no one was able to play it, so the premiere was cancelled.  This is the only recording of this concerto. I premiered it a few years after this recording in NY.  

 

James Cohn is one of the great American 20th century composers. I know I am biased, but I think this is one of his best concertos....

3 movements: Capriccio, Romanza, Rondo

 

William Wakker

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Takayuki YAGI]

I have a CD of that concerto which soloist was Wim Wakker himself. But I didn't know the story behind that. This CD was attached to the amboyna ended Geuns-Wakker concertina which I bought over 20 years ago from concertinaconnection.

[James Fitton]

Wow! That's some seriously complex music, and also some seriously excellent playing! Thank you for uploading the score too - it really helps in following what's going on here. Is there a reason for the "left-justified" presentation in the Rondo - I was wondering if some additional beats would begin to be added, but that didn't seem to happen? And is this as written by Cohn (with the annotations) or have you developed the notation in some way?

[wim wakker]

Hi James,

I am not sure what you mean with 'left justified'.

 

The score is what I  received from XLNT for the recording. It is a bit rough around the edges (layout, markings on wrong places, etc.), but at the time I was happy to have an idea of full scope of the piece. I had never heard the concerto, it had never been played.

 

I just got a phone call from James Cohn one Sunday evening, asking if I was available to record the concerto in Riga, Latvia in 6 weeks....Normally they give you 8-12 months, but XLNT music had hired the symphony orchestra for a week to record several other solo concertos, and Jim really wanted this piece to be included. 

The next morning they emailed me the contract and this score, with a note that said: good luck!