How a London orchestra chooses a concertmaster

How a London orchestra chooses a concertmaster

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norman lebrecht

February 24, 2019

Internal memo at the Philharmonia:

We will be holding a Concertmaster audition for (name) on Monday 25 February at Walthamstow Town Hall.

Esa-Pekka has agreed to use the end of the afternoon rehearsal for this audition, so the afternoon will be:

14:30 reh Bruckner 7, Mozart Der Schauspieldirektor overture, 16:45-17:30 audition*************

 

Esa-Pekka has asked Robin O’Neill to conduct the audition.

The repertoire is listed below.

 

Repertoire

Mozart: Violin Concerto No.3, exposition

Beethoven: Violin Concerto, exposition

 

Solo extracts:

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis, Sanctus, solo to letter I

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, solo at fig. 22-32

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, fig. 27-35

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Mvt 2 beginning & K-N

Dvořák: Symphony No.8, Adagio, solo from letter D

Shostakovich: Symphony No.5, Mvt 2 solo

Ravel: Ma Mere L’Oye, last page solo

 

Without orch:

Schumann: Symphony No 2, Scherzo, up to bar 54

Strauss: Don Juan, beginning till 15 after D

Tchaikovsky: String Serenade Mvt 1, directed by (candidate)

There is not one modern piece in the schedule and this is a hell of a lot of music to cover in 45 minutes. As a point of etymology, it appears that the traditional English ‘leader’ has been supplanted by the German/American term ‘concertmaster’.

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