*Sheet music now available for purchase at www.danielerdmannmusic.com*

This is a recording of the Metropolitan Symphony conducted by William Schrickel featuring violist/composer Daniel Erdmann performing the world premiere of his Concerto for Viola & Orchestra at Roseville Lutheran Church in Roseville, Minnesota on March 29th, 2015.  

The composer had the following notes about the piece:

"I decided to write my Concerto for Viola and Orchestra in 2005 when I was a freshman at St. Olaf College.  During that time, I had fallen in love with Romantic era orchestral music from the 19th and early 20th centuries.  As a violist, I spent months searching for an inspiring Romantic viola concerto that I could learn to play.  Great composers I admire such as Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, and Barber wrote many incredible concertos, but none for the viola.  I decided to thoroughly teach myself composition and orchestration so that I could take on the challenge of writing my own viola concerto. 

As my early attempts at writing the piece came to dead ends, I realized that I needed to allow the inspiration for the music as a whole to be completely honest and personal.  The concerto is structured in three movements following Classical and Romantic traditions with a slow middle movement surrounded by faster outer movements.  Though each movement is based roughly around classical music forms (sonata, song form, and rondo respectively), the music chronicles a personal story of depression, love, and overwhelming happiness.  My hope is that the music will speak for itself, and resonate with the listener on their own terms."

A video of the complete performance is also available on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/JbKQkWhi0oI?si=hEFX0HxJ6uJFp0m7

For more information on Erdmann's music visit www.danielerdmannmusic.com

For information on upcoming concerts with the Metropolitan Symphony visit www.msomn.org

Concerto for Viola & Orchestra

I. Lento grave - Allegro

I’m Daniel Erdmann, a composer with a passion for Romantic and Neo-Romantic orchestral music.  Having been a violist for most of my life, I want to give prominence to the viola by creating works that showcase its depth, rich timbre, and expressive capabilities.  My formal education in composition began at St. Olaf College, but my deepest insights into music have come from self-led exploration.  After leaving St. Olaf in 2007, I began teaching myself orchestration through extensive reading and score analysis.  This led to the creation of my Concerto for Viola & Orchestra, which I had the privilege of premiering as the soloist with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Minneapolis in 2015.

I strive to write music that connects with listeners on a direct and emotional level while having layers of complexity.  Performing with ensembles like the St. Olaf Orchestra and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra has given me a deep understanding and comfort with the language of orchestral music. My compositional style is influenced by the depth and richness of Neo-Romantic and Romantic composers like Samuel Barber, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Jean Sibelius, and Gustav Mahler, as well as modern masters such as Arvo Pärt and Henryk Gorecki.  These composers have shaped my musical language, but ultimately my goal is to express myself in a way that is vulnerable and honest in all my music.

I’ve been fortunate to have my compositions performed by ensembles such as the Urthema String Quartet, the Lirica Chamber Ensemble, and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.  

As a founding member of the Urthema String Quartet, I contributed numerous original pieces and arrangements for the group.  In 2023, my piece “The Second Coming” for a cappella choir was recorded by Composers’ Choir and is now available on YouTube and SoundCloud. 

After putting composing on hiatus for many years, I began writing again in 2022.  Since then, I have split my time between publishing past works and writing new music.  I am happy to finally share my short list of published pieces on this site. Thank you for visiting and I look forward to sharing future creations with you.

For more information on my music and to purchase sheet music visit my website at:

www.danielerdmannmusic.com