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Piano Concerto: for piano solo and symphony orchestra

Piano Concerto for piano solo and large orchestra (2009)

Culmination of the AHRC-funded (£137,000) project ‘Confronting the Contemporary Piano’. Published by Edition Peters (EP72191), ii+73pp. Duration: 20 Minutes. Premiere: Manchester, Richard Casey and the Manchester University Symphony Orchestra/Mark Heron, February 2009.

This combines results of my previous research into piano textures and sonorities (as part of the AHRC project) with new research into concerto strategies. Numerous concertos were studied in preparation for this work – with particular focus on relationships that are at the extremes of either opposition (e.g. Beethoven/Carter) or of synthesis (e.g. Brahms/Lindberg). The aim in my concerto was to achieve both, but on different levels. Heterogeneous materials on the surface (initially separated by extreme silences) are gradually pulled together by an underlying process of contraction, such that these materials ultimately collide and bring about the music’s climax and cadenzas. The materials each have their own tempi and rhythmic character (an approach based on research into polarized characterization in Stravinsky, Messiaen, Carter and Nancarrow – particularly the latter’s Study No.5). Underpinning this surface opposition of distinct materials is a complex pulse network that brings about the large-scale process of contraction and collision: tempi that initially sound distinct are ultimately revealed to be related. (This builds on the tempo networks of Carter and Birtwistle and the process of contraction in some of Nancarrow’s studies, but the blueprint lies in the organic structures of Sibelius). This was my first attempt to locate a heterogeneous musical surface within an organic structure, a strategy that is explored again in my second string quartet and second piano trio. The inspiration for this approach came from pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in which galaxies can be seen colliding with and tearing one another apart (see notes in score).