Paul Lewis

Shipley Concerto

Orchestration; Solo Violin, Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)

Shipley Concerto was written to celebrate both the acquisition by violinist Andrew Bernardi and a consortium of friends of the violin now known as the Amici Bernardi Stradivarius and the 20th anniversary in 2020 of the Shipley Arts Festival in Sussex, of which Bernardi is founder and director.
The concerto makes use of a four-note motif representing the date of the violin's manufacture - 1696. Taking D as the starting point to represent 1, the 2nd note (6) is the B a 6th above, the third note (9) the E a 9th above the first note, and the fourth note (6) is B again.
The three movements of the concerto follow three locations in the violin's long life.

1. CREMONA 1696 A dance-like movement evocative of the Italian 'City of Violins' where the world's finest and most famous luthiers flourished from the 16th century onwards. It was here in 1696 that Antonio Stradivari fashioned the Amici Bernardi violin. The 1696 motif is heard at the very outset, plucked as if the soloist is checking the violin's tuning since three of the phrase's four notes are open strings.
2. SHIPLEY IDYLL Shipley is a dreamy village in West Sussex, whose ancient church provides a beautiful concert venue at the heart of the Shipley Arts Festival. The music is of a suitably pastoral and meandering nature and makes contemplative use of the 1696 motif.
3. CHINESE ADVENTURE A partnership between the Bernardi Music Group, Shipley Arts Festival and Yuyuan Arts has taken Andrew Bernardi and the Amici Bernardi Stradivarius to China, where further exciting adventures are planned for the future. An enthusiastic galop suggestive of Oriental energy hints at the eastern pentatonic scale, while the nonchalant melody of the middle section represents an Englishman abroad, the accompanying pizzicato repetitions of the 1696 motif reminding us that he has his violin with him at all times! A solo cadenza leads to a recap of the opening galop, this time with scurrying first violins egging the soloist on. Paul Lewis

Duration c.14 minutes

A PACK includes a full score, a solo violin part plus strings 4/4/3/4/2.