This work is a full-blooded romantic concerto from start to finish, featuring lots of showy bravura from the soloist. The orchestration is richly resonant, by appropriate turns discreet and outspoken. The tone is generally happy and extroverted as Karlowicz modulates between different shadings of good moods without getting boring. The three movements are played without pause.

The horns lead the full-bodied orchestral introduction to the first movement, Allegro moderato. The violinist then introduces the main melodic material, first in a passage of unaccompanied bravura, then over light accompaniment. The violin writing is virtuosic throughout, with the soloist playing in double-stops much of the time. The orchestra speaks up every now and then to contrast with the soloist, and sometimes raises its voice in independent tutti passages.

The second movement, a romanza marked andante, is a song of secure happiness. It is a lyrical excursion for the soloist and orchestra, both of which scale heights of emotional intensity along the way.

An outspoken brass fanfare begins the concluding Vivace assai. The soloist comes in scampering for joy, and continues doing so through a lot of flashy pyrotechnics. The light-hearted and light-footed feeling spills over into the orchestral writing in which trumpets are prominent.

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