Wordless Menotti

In Philadelphia last week, famed Violinist Efrem Zimbalist, 63, came out of a three-year retirement to solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra. His reason: he wanted to play the world premiere of Gian-Carlo (The Consul) Menotti's Violin Concerto in A Minor.

It turned out to be a happy decision for everybody. The songful style that marks Menotti's operas was apparent in the concerto, and its easygoing expression was well suited to Zimbalist's delicate tone and refined phrasing. For Philadelphians it was pleasant listening; the audience gave a rousing round of applause to the violinist, the composer and Conductor Eugene Ormandy.

The concerto is Menotti's best instrumental work to date (though he himself still prefers his 1945 Piano Concerto in F). It has humor and a touch of drama, and a striking contrast of light & dark textures (major & minor) unifies the whole piece. Its weakness is formal: the main line of progress is too full of pleasant but unrelated detours into puckish humor and free-flown fancy.

Composer Menotti enjoys the freedom of writing music without having to think about a libretto. "After I get a couple more operas out of my system I will concentrate on concert music alone," he says. "But I'll never write to a deadline again. Trying to finish the concerto in time, I had a sick stomach for days. Zimbalist only had three weeks to memorize his part. He had a sick stomach, too."

For the present, Menotti will be busy directing new performances of his operas: Amahl and the Night Visitors for TV on Christmas Day (he had to find a new boy soprano, since two earlier ones are teetering on the vocal edge of manhood) and a concert performance of The Consul in Philadelphia next month. After that he will concentrate on the score and libretto of The Saint of Bleecker Street, which "may take me five years. I don't care. I have been reading about saints. It is very difficult."

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