Compositions
Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge”
Listen with the full score
Jeff Midkiff: Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge”
“Wow, really terrific — damned impressive!! Gorgeous middle movement. Bravo Jeff,
a real accomplishment both pragmatically and artistically.”
David Royko, Chicago Tribune
“...toe-tapping...spiritual...colorfully scored...fun...”
—Michael Butterman, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra conductor
The piece directly reflects Midkiff's roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains
and his fondness for the bluegrass music tradition, with a touch of swing and
jazz in the mix. … Cleverly blends a sophisticated orchestral foundation with mandolin playing suitable for classically-oriented lines as well as those more down-home.
—John Shulson, Virginia Gazette, January 19, 2013
Composed in 2011 in a commission from Music Director David Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the first performance was opening night of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's Fall 2011 season. The Concerto has subsequently been performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Shreveport Symphony, and the Williamsburg Symphonia and the Northwest Florida Symphony. Performances are scheduled with the Boulder Philharmonic and the Symphony of Southeast Texas, Beaumont.
Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra From the Blue Ridge (2011)
Too often, composers attempt to mix genres when they only know one deeply and thoroughly enough to express their muse, with the result being more grafting than blending.
Jeff Midkiff’s classical pieces are cut from different cloth, and we don’t end up with a patchy crazy quilt but a weave of fine threads. It makes sense when you realize that he is a professional and experienced classical clarinetist, familiar with both the orchestral and chamber repertoires from the inside out. But (and this is a huge but) Midkiff also has played and recorded with some of the best bluegrass musicians in the world, where the mandolin, his other “voice,” is the most hallowed of instruments. It is where his improvisational abilities come from, something few classical musicians can do, or at least do naturally. Then again, “I truly enjoy the amazing color, language and structure of the symphony,” Midkiff has said, and he has demonstrated all of the above with his Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra From the Blue Ridge, commissioned in 2011 by the Roanoke Symphony and their Music Director, David Stewart Wiley.
Inspired by late autumn’s “falling leaves, blowing in the wind,” the work opens with an isolated chord launching the solo mandolin to skitter and swirl, the sixteenth notes inviting the orchestra to rejoin and begin the journey through the Blue Ridge Mountains named in the concerto’s subtitle, with both beauty and intellectual rigor. By the midpoint of the first movement, we have moved from D-Minor to the relative key of B-Flat Major, courtesy waltzing woodwinds, before returning to the up-tempo opening theme. The composer ends the movement with an extended clarinet note, as if tipping the hat to his other chosen instrument.
Like Beethoven’s “awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside” that launches his Pastoral symphony, Midkiff’s emotions upon returning to his home town of Roanoke are echoed both by the slow movement’s beauty and lyricism, and it’s evocative bluegrass flavor, the latter inspired by the Carter Family’s “Wildwood Flower,” and the father of Bluegrass Music himself, Bill Monroe and his instrumental, “Roanoke” (natch). The mandolin applies a fiddle tune, accompanied by the oboe (not an instrument one usually finds at bluegrass festival jam sessions), expressing a deep longing reminiscent of bluegrass music’s trademark “high lonesome” sound. The composer’s natural sense of improvisation informs the piccolo solo that appears before the mandolin wraps up the movement atop a bed of strings.
The Crooked Road is the subtitle of the final movement, an apt description for the upbeat, free and dynamic music to come. Jazz and bluegrass flavors add to the sense of an orchestral jam session, with virtuosic hand-offs giving every section opportunities to shine. A break in the action occurs with an extended cadenza for the duo of mandolin and the concertmaster’s violin, leading to a mixed-meter blues riff for full orchestra. A brief cadenza for mandolin asserts itself before ending with a fervent flourish.
—David Royko
Download the Review
Virginia Gazette review of the Concerto
with the Williamsburg Symphonia
The evening's featured soloist, Jeff Midkiff, was also the composer of the featured piece, “From the Blue Ridge,” a concerto for mandolin. The title of the work quickly dispelled any thoughts of hearing the mandolin in music reflective of its 18th century Italian roots. Quite the opposite.
The piece directly reflects Midkiff’s roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains and his fondness for the bluegrass music tradition, with a touch of swing and jazz in the mix. Although he’s a trained clarinetist with a degree in music education and performance and is the orchestra director for the Roanoke City Schools, Midkiff’s involvement in bluegrass music is evident in the work’s overall structure.
“It was a special evening centering around Jeff Midkiff's mandolin concerto. This original piece combines classical elements with hints of bluegrass and American folk nuance. It is incredibly well crafted with special attention to instrumentation and color. Jeff is a whiz at the mandolin and the audience went crazy.”
Janna Hymes, Music Director
and Conductor, Williamsburg Symphonia
Not that this suggests “Blue Ridge” is all fast mandolin pickin’ because it isn’t. In fact, it’s a work that cleverly blends a sophisticated orchestral foundation with mandolin playing suitable for classically-oriented lines as well as those more down-home.
It opens with swirling sounds from the orchestra and mandolin that appropriately does suggest the beauty of the Blue Ridge area and its peaceful life. It’s a fascinating combination of bluegrass inspired emotions with those of a somewhat big city orchestral sound that works well on many levels.
The second movement is thoughtful and reflective and brought to mind the emotions so superbly expressed by Copland and his Americana music. According to program notes, Midkiff’s stimulus for this movement came from “Wildwood Flower” and the Carter Family and Bill Monroe's “Roanoke.”
The finale, “Crooked Road” refers to the extensive trail of bluegrass and country music that winds through Appalachia and southwestern Virginia and embraces such luminaries as Ernie Ford, the Stoneman Family, and Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, the latter which were featured in the Virginia Arts Festival back in 2007.
Your piece added such wonderful levity to our program and was enjoyed immensely by all. You masterfully wove the melodies of each instrument into a joyous tapestry and the audience was mesmerized.
Carolyn Keurajian, Executive Director, Williamsburg
Symphonia
As for Midkiff, his virtuoso fast-paced mandolin playing was impressive, as was his ability to weave the most delicate of lines, all of which added to the delightful diversity of the Symphonia’s fare in this Masterworks Concert.
—John Shulson, Virginia Gazette, January 19, 2013
Program notes for the concert from its debut:
Roanoke’s own composer and virtuoso Jeff Midkiff
features traditional mountain music and a new concerto
for mandolin and orchestra
Having grown up in Roanoke, moved away, and returned to Roanoke, I wanted the concerto to echo the emotions associated with home, and with going home.“My love for playing the mandolin, and a lifetime doing so, began to take on new meaning and motivation just a few years ago. After decades of also performing as a clarinetist, and countless orchestral concert situations, I felt a deep-seated desire to bring my favorite instrument in line with that experience. I truly enjoy the color, language and structure of the symphony orchestra, and my many years as a clarinetist made me very familiar with it. At the same time, I enjoyed a highly improvisational approach to the mandolin that was uniquely my own. I had struggled to keep the two — orchestra and mandolin — a ‘safe’ distance apart. But I knew I could say something with the mandolin on a symphonic scale. Deep down, I wanted to bring my most natural companion to the orchestra — two seemingly different worlds, together.
AUDIO CLIP: Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge,” first movement sample
“The first movement, begins with the mandolin on swirling sixteenth notes, setting the stage with excitement and anticipation, as does the entire movement. The commission for the piece came to me in November when the falling leaves drew this opening scene. Indeed, the Blue Ridge’s beauty and importance to me would form the piece. The middle of the first movement moves to major tonality with woodwinds in a waltz-like dance before a return to the opening theme.
AUDIO CLIP: Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge,” second movement sample
“The lyrical second movement, draws on more typical and familiar bluegrass melodies. Having grown up in Roanoke, moved away, and returned to Roanoke, I wanted the concerto to echo the emotions associated with home, and with going home. To get there, I looked no further than the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Roanoke Valley. ‘Wildwood Flower’ by The Carter Family and Bill Monroe’s ‘Roanoke’ are the thematic inspiration.
AUDIO CLIP: Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge,” third movement sample
“The third movement is an upbeat, exciting, spontaneous and dynamic affair. It draws strongly upon jazz and bluegrass themes in a series of ideas in a sort of ‘controlled jam session’ — one idea smoothly leading to another. Every section of the orchestra has a role to play with particularly expanded use of percussion setting up the different groves.
