Bitti Violin Concerto in D major for Violin and String Orchestra

Martino Bitti spent much of his career at the Medici court in Florence, and his violin writing has the clarity and purposefulness you'd expect from a composer who understood the instrument from the inside. This D major concerto is a well-proportioned four-movement work that gives a Grade 6 soloist genuine Baroque idioms to work with rather than simplified approximations.

The slow movemenst is where much of the teaching value sits. The dotted rhythms ask for real bow control and rhythmic security: the soloist has to hold the long notes without rushing into the short ones, which is harder than it sounds and exactly the kind of discipline that Baroque style demands. The faster movements bring semiquaver passage work built on sequences, which are useful pedagogically because the pattern-logic helps the player understand the phrase even when the fingers are working hard. The sequencing takes the violinist up into fourth position, so this is a good piece for consolidating that shift in a musical context.

The orchestral writing is straightforward and supportive. The string orchestra has enough to do without competing with the soloist, and the harpsichord continuo gives the ensemble a rhythmic backbone throughout.

This edition is prepared from the original score by Paul Wood, who has also provided a fully realised harpsichord continuo part.

Key features:

• Solo violin with string orchestra and realised harpsichord continuo
• Four movements with contrasting slow and fast writing
• ABRSM Grade 6; duration approx. 6 minutes
• Dotted rhythms in the Adagio for bow control and rhythmic security
• Semiquaver passage work with sequences; fourth position required
• Edited and realised by Paul Wood

Who it's for: Grade 6 violinists ready to tackle a real Baroque concerto; conductors looking for accessible solo repertoire that teaches style as well as technique.