Bert Bailey wrote:

>Would anyone care to suggest some other recent and impressive VCs?

All depends how recent, but I have some firm favourites starting from 1962.

Dutilleux, in his 1985 VC, "L'Arbre des songes", makes fine use of
instrumental colour and texture, and the result is very impressive:
original, poetical, the musical equivalent of visionary - quite stunning,
violin and orchestra exquisitely interdependent throughout.

Schnittke wrote four:  1957/62, 1966, 1978 and 1984 - the third and
fourth impress me particularly.  The third, opening with an introductory
cadenza, stresses the violin's complex, highly individual voice in a clever
compositional balance of tonal and atonal elements.  The fourth switches
from motivic tension to lush melody and back and is emotionally quite a
shock.

Kenins wrote a fine, dark, temperamental brooder for violin and chamber
orchestra in 1974.  It is in a single movement but moves through three
main fast-slow-fast sequences.

Perhaps, in recent times, there are many works for violin and orchestra
that do not obey the notion of 'concerto' strictly enough to bear the name.
Three works in particular spring to mind.  Lutoslawski wrote "Chain ll,
Dialogue for violin and orchestra", in 1985, then a "Partita" for violin
and orchestra in 1988 Later he decided to link the two in reverse order
with an "Interlude" for orchestra in 1989, and it works extremely well.
The third is Takemitsu's "Far calls.  Coming, far!" 1980, beautiful with
the right conductor (ie one that attends to vertical clarity, so avoiding
misty hyper-impressionism).

Amongst other more recent works for violin and orchestra, these I find
particularly satisfying...

Regards,

Christine Labroche