Despite the fact that surprisingly few of Glazunov's works have secured their deserved niches in the regular concerthall repertory (obvious exceptions are his violin concerto and several of his symphonies), it should not surprise anyone that a man who found Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben "nauseating and repulsive" (and called its author "an infernal scribbler!") was particularly at home when it came to composing in lighter genres. Indeed, Glazunov's ballet scores Raymonda and The Seasons showed him to be an orchestrator of Tchaikovskyian allure and sensitivity, and his two Concert Waltzes, Op. 47 and Op. 51, again reveal his debt to Tchaikovsky, the finest waltz composer outside of Austria. Glazunov wrote his first Concert Waltz in D major in 1893. The introduction, with its octave-spaced harp figurations, leads to a lustrous and elegant main theme first announced by the strings and forms the bulk of the material. A contrasted second idea, also lithe and fluid, allows the wind instruments to take a more prominent role (another section finds two clarinets in a wistful minor-key exchange), revealing the enormous command of the orchestra that Glazunov had already gained during the early phase of his career. The final section of the work (which lasts around ten minutes) brings a return of all the main ideas, leading to a powerful coda in which brass and percussion are also prominent. The manuscript score was presented by Glazunov to his one-time mentor Rimsky-Korsakov, and the work has become one of Glazunov's most popular compositions.

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