Viola Concerto (2023)
(Three Goddesses)

My Viola Concerto was commissioned by the Presteigne Festival, with funds from the Colwinston Charitable Trust, and first performed on 26 August 2023 at St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne, by Rachel Roberts (viola) with the Presteigne Festival Orchestra, conducted by George Vass.

In 2009 I wrote a work for string orchestra entitled ‘Goddess’, based on a painting by the Cheshire artist Dorothy Bradford. It had a prominent part for solo viola and was the starting point for my new viola concerto. indeed, it provided most of the musical material for the slow movement of the concerto.

I also decided to write a three movement work where each of the movements was named after a different mythical Goddess; Morrigan (Celtic), Aphrodite (Greek), and Diana (Roman). The characteristics of each Goddess also provided the main thrust for the musical material - hence: Morrigan, Goddess of War and Death, but also ‘Earth Mother’, has music of a violent and threatening nature, but also of a gentler lyricism; Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Sensuality, has music of a highly emotional, yet enigmatic intensity; whilst Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, Wild Animals, and the Moon, has more energetic music, but yet again, by contrast, a middle section of passionate lyricism.

The concerto is bound together by the angular theme heard at the outset, announced by solo viola, and by three ‘responding’ major chords on the strings, which reappear throughout the work in varied form. The concerto, scored for viola and string orchestra, lasts around 20 minutes, and is dedicated to Rachel Roberts who performed ‘Goddess’ so beautifully at the Presteigne Festival in 2017, a performance which made me want to write a concerto specially for her.

– Edward Gregson