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Music open thread: Concertos for two different instruments [1]

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Date: 2025-07-28

Violinist Nurit Bar-Josef and cellist David Hardy are scheduled to play the so-called “Double Concerto” in A minor by Johannes Brahms with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center late January of next year.

That’s the plan as of now, anyway. Not content with renaming the opera house at the Kennedy Center after Melania Trump (whose affinity for opera remains unconfirmed), Republicans now want to rename the whole Kennedy Center after cultural blight Donald Trump.

Several musicians and ensembles have already canceled performances at the Kennedy Center, and more are likely to pull out if the whole center is renamed as Republicans propose.

I suppose the United States Navy Band’s chamber music concert scheduled for August 7 will still take place. The Navy Band can’t pull out of that one even if they wanted to.

But you’ve got to notice something about the two soloists for the Brahms concerto: they’re both National Symphony Orchestra section principals. Nurit Bar-Josef is the NSO concertmaster (the principal first violinist) and David Hardy is the NSO principal cellist.

Did they try asking someone like Grammy Award-winning American violinist Hilary Hahn or Grammy Award-winning American cellist Yo-Yo Ma? Hahn has tried to stay apolitical. But we already know quite well that French-born Ma would have said no, as he’s already earned the scorn of MAGA idiots everywhere with his outspoken criticism of Trump.

Nurit Bar-Josef can’t pull out of her solo turn without quitting the orchestra, unlike Hilary Hahn, who is not attached to any particular orchestra. Similarly, David Hardy can’t pull out either without giving up his principal chair, unlike Yo-Yo Ma, who can play with almost any orchestra he chooses.

Maybe the concert will happen, maybe it won’t. At least the Brahms concerto is a fairly frequently performed and recorded piece. Here are violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Maximilian Hornung as soloists.

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So far in these open threads I’ve mostly only written about one solo instrument and orchestra, occasionally band. I’ve at times mentioned concertos for two of the same instrument (e.g., two pianos) or two closely related instruments (e.g., flute and recorder).

There are concertos, or concertante pieces, for much more different instruments, such as harp and violin.

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This one for oboe and violin by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 1060r, might be more familiar to you in its form as a concerto for two harpsichords.

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In photos and videos, I have a lot of trouble telling the violin and the viola apart, even though the viola is bigger. In some languages, the two instruments get fairly different words.

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I want to include at least a couple of concerti in which neither solo instrument is a violin. This concerto for flute and oboe by Antonio Salieri would be a candidate for an album of his greatest hits, you know, if record label executives thought anyone would buy it. The sound quality in this particular recording leaves a lot to be desired, but the musicians play well and with commitment, and do justice to this great music.

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You can never go wrong with Telemann.

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The open thread question: What is your favorite music in which two different solo instruments are contrasted against an ensemble?

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