Jon Gallant recommends:

>Penderecki (gloom and doom, but there are those who like to wallow);
>Nicholas Maw (tonal/modern, lyrical and upbeat); Poul Ruders (an
>England-based Danish composer) TWO violin concerti, of which the first
>is modern gloss on the Italian baroque; and

Penderecki has two, neither of which has struck me as music I can't live
without but I am willing to give them more hearings.  The Maw concerto I
have pretty much given up on.  I tried to like it but after repeated
hearings I find it rather heavy, dull and retro in style.  It might be
upbeat, I suppose, but it doesn't make me upbeat.  Maybe I should try
again.

Ruders is a composer I want to get to know better; my review of
a delightful work of his is at

   http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/tobin/index.html#cd

Rochberg's Violin Concerto appeared about the same time as Penderecki's
first VC and I much prefer it.

Jim Tobin