Growth I – violin concerto
Composer's note
1. A dehydrated, pulverised, and then reconstituted (with lumps) 1903 recording of Joseph Joachim playing Brahms's Hungarian Dance No. 1
2. Isaac Stern speaking in 1999 about the founding of the National Endowment of Arts seen through a thick layer of nostalgia's sweet molasses
3. The Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina playing Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 frozen, broken in shards, and randomly reassembled
The three movements each draw from historical recordings of a violin, a violinist, or an attempt to mechanically imitate both: 1. The first recording of a violin with a performance by Josef Joachim playing Hungarian Dance No. 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKK5iFFPKxM&t=3s, accessed Nov. 2020. 2. An excerpt of a Carnegie Hall interview given by Isaac Stern in 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ-z2JWaGvg accessed Nov. 2020, ca. minute 9:00 to 12:30, slightly edited. 3. The Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina, a music cabinet with three self-playing violins and a self-playing piana called as the „8th wonder of the world“ at the 1920 World Fair playing Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 in E flat major, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzaSVbCWxM, accessed Nov. 2020