Violin Concerto (Elgar)

Violin Concerto (Elgar)

Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is one of his longest orchestral compositions, and the last of his works to gain immediate popular success.

The concerto was composed for the violinist Fritz Kreisler, who gave the premiere in London in 1910, with the composer conducting. Plans by the recording company His Master's Voice to record the work with Kreisler and Elgar fell through, and the composer made a recording with the teenaged Yehudi Menuhin that has remained in the catalogues since its first release in 1932.

Elgar's music was out of fashion in the middle of the twentieth century, but the concerto nevertheless continued to be programmed. By the end of the century, when Elgar's music was restored to the general repertory, there had been more than twenty recordings of the concerto. In 2010, centenary performances of the concerto were given around the world.