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        • Helen Grime

        • Violin Concerto (2016)

        • Chester Music Ltd (World)

        Commissioned by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. First performed by Malin Broman, violin, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding at Berwald Hall, Stockholm on 15 December 2016.

        • 2(pic).2.2(ebcl).2(cbn)/2.2.2+btbn.1/2perc/hp.cel/str
        • Violin
        • 22 min
          • 21st June 2025, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, United Kingdom
          • 22nd June 2025, Snape Maltings, Snape, United Kingdom
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        Programme Note

        My Violin Concerto came about after several collaborations with Malin Broman and many years of gestation. We first worked together with Malin’s piano trio (Kungsbacka Trio) but I also had chance to work with the orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding with Malin leading, in 2010. I was immediately struck by the ferocity, power and passion in her playing. At turns she is able to play with a sort of wild abandon but also with great tenderness, sensitivity and with many different colours. I knew when we started talking about the piece some years back, that I wanted to highlight and showcase these striking, opposing qualities. Violent, virtuosic music covering the whole range of the violin is contrasted with more delicate and reflective filigree material that features oscillating natural harmonic passages and searching melodies.

        Towards the beginning of the writing process, I sent Malin various fragments of material and many of these are used in the concerto. These initial sketches actually became the basis for the piece’s central section and everything else sprung from this. In one continuous movement, the piece falls into three main sections but features extensive dreamlike interlinking passages that connect them.

        Programme note © 2017

        Media

        Violinist Leila Josefowicz on Helen Grime's Violin Concerto

        Scores

        Preview the score

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        Reviews

        A distinctive personality shines throughout. The opening is intense and unapologetic in its punctuated rhythmic aggression. However, a more profound sense of existential mystery exists beneath the surface of this wild and chaotic beast. The violent, virtuosic music covering the violin’s complete compass contrasts with a goodly portion of more delicate and reflective material.

        Mark Gresham, EarRelevant (Atlanta)
        10th June 2023

        In Grime’s musical thinking, the orchestral fabric is turned into three-dimensional augmented reality surrounding the solo part, giving rise to a musical setup of ravishing originality and immersive intensity. 

        Jari Kallio, Adventures in Music
        4th December 2022

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