Mckay: Violin Concerto / Sinfonietta No. 4 / Song Over the Great Plains

Featuring

John McLaughlin Williams
Brian Reagin
Ludmilla Kovaleva
National Radio Company of Ukraine Symphony Orchestra
George Frederick McKay

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

McKay earned the first composition degree awarded at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Christian Sinding and Selim Palmgren.

Composer Biography

McKay was a successful teacher whose students included notable composers and figures like William Bolcom, John Cage, and Goddard Lieberson.

Composition History

McKay's Violin Concerto received an honorable mention in the 1941 Heifetz Competition, established by Jascha Heifetz and Carl Fischer.

Instruments

Brian Reagin, the violinist on this recording, performs on a Lorenzo and Tomaso Carcassi violin made in Florence, Italy, in 1763.

Compositional Technique

McKay's Violin Concerto shares formal similarities with Max Bruch's famous Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring an operatic first movement, a poetic slow movement, and a rhythmic finale.

Composer Biography

George Frederick McKay, known as the Dean of Northwest Composers, was a revered Professor of Music at the University of Washington for 41 years.

Recording & Production

The album cover features a painting titled 'Les animaux' by Mark Tobey, which was painted for George Frederick McKay in gratitude for his help in music studies.