Né à Sacramento, dans le Kentucky, le 30 novembre 1941, Gérard PLAIN fut, pour l’essentiel de sa formation musicale l’élève de Leslie Bassett et de Rose Lee Finney à l’Université de Michigan. Il a prolongé ses études à la Faculté de Paul University, à Chicago, au ChicagoMusical College et, brièvement, à la Eastman School of Music.
En 1974, Gerard PLAIN obtenait le « Rome Prise Fellowship » et le 4ème Prix du Concours de musique électroacoustique de Bourges.
Durant les deux années suivantes, son oeuvre and left ol’ Joe a bone, AMAZING! fut primée dans plusieurs concours.
Despite its title, this work of reduced dimensions is a single movement, thus differing from a traditionally structured concerto.
Concerto here refers to a composition in which the soloist exerts his influence and extends his virtuosity over the widest possible ensemble.
Unlike Gerard PLAIN's other works, the Violin Concerto contains only a few "colorations of popular elements," as the composer's primary focus, here, was to create a sound characterized by a texture, a grain mastered by a strictly controlled musical movement.
This work was premiered in Monaco on Sunday, April 2, 1982, by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lawrence FOSTER (Ronald Patterson, violin, to whom later, Gerald Plain dedicated his Capriccio).