brevity is the soul of wit

Yesterday while driving home from playing Ultimate Frisbee, I listened to a beautiful violin concerto, described by Ted Sohier of WQED 89.3 as being the world premiere recording, perhaps not heard in over 200 years. "Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief:" Why not bring this beautiful concerto to our ears, live, next season at the PSO? And perhaps the solo performer of this CD would be interested:

Franz Clement: Violin Concerto in D Royal Philharmonic / José Serebrier
Rachel Barton Pine, baroque violin

Franz Clement's name has come down to us as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, but a year previously, in 1805, he wrote his own Concerto in D, and it's a major find. This is no orchestrally challenged, formally dysfunctional, tasteless virtuoso vehicle, but rather is a full-blown classical concerto nearly as long (40-plus minutes) as the Beethoven. The melodic material is consistently attractive--and just as importantly, equally interesting harmonically. Deftly scored, and of course wonderfully written for the violin, its lyricism clearly anticipates Beethoven's own work of 1806. It goes without saying that Rachel Barton Pine plays the work with the style and elegance that it deserves.