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Music open thread: Banjo concertos [1]
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Date: 2025-05-27
Yesterday was Memorial Day, honoring members of the U. S. Armed Forces who died in the line of duty. It’s not exactly clear when Memorial Day was first celebrated. It seems to have started shortly after the Civil War.
From what I can gather, the banjo was a very popular instrument during the Civil War, especially for soldiers. It was easier to carry than a piano or a portable organ, and more resonant than a guitar, though it can still benefit from extra amplification sometimes.
I doubt anyone back then was thinking of writing a banjo concerto, even if it was for banjo and wind band rather than banjo and orchestra.
So I could not find many on YouTube. This one seems to be fairly popular.
x YouTube Video
I’m not liking the one by Tim Lake all that much, but it could be because the performance lacks punch. It’s a world premiere performance, and those are not always that good (e.g., Górecki’s Second Symphony). But composer Tim Lake is the banjo soloist, so maybe this is as good as the piece gets. Duration is roughly half an hour, I did listen to the whole thing, but maybe I should give it another chance some time later.
x YouTube Video
Actually, the concerto lasts less than half an hour, the last few minutes of the video are taken up by a fun encore for banjo and guitar.
The very first piece I thought of including in this open thread was the scherzo from William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, subtitled “Afro-American.”
If I’ve cued this up correctly, the video should start a few seconds before the conductor gives the first downbeat for the scherzo, marked Animato, about twelve minutes in a typical recording of the whole symphony. But it’s such a nice piece that it wouldn’t be terribly bad to listen to the whole thing.
x YouTube Video
At first I really wanted to include a video of a performance by an American orchestra, the Tampa Bay Symphony. The best performance by anyone, in my opinion, is the Detroit Symphony conducted by Neeme Järvi, but the YouTube video of that just has the album cover for the video track. In this other video, you see the banjo player come up to the front of the stage.
The open thread question: What is your favorite music with banjo solos?
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