Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
(1994)

Commissioned by:
The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
The Muncie Symphony Orchestra
The Missouri Chamber Orchestra
The University of Vermont Symphony
The Goucher Chamber Symphony

Instrumentation:
    solo piano with 2.2.2.2/4.3.3.1/timp/2perc/strings
    also available in reduced brass instrumentation of 2.2.1.0

Duration - complete  version
    brief introduction for piano solo, plus four movements, ca. 43:00

Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sebrina Maria Alfonso, conductor
Jeffrey Chappell, piano

 information on purchasing this CD

Comments and Reviews

... reaction to your concerto was simply terrific... I continue to hear rave reviews from everyone I come in contact with... thank you for writing a work of remarkable beauty and power...

Robert Palmer, pianist
soloist with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra

... wow!... the whole piece came across most eloquently... the Rhapsody [third movement] caught me in the gut and didn¹t let go... the piano had absolutely stunningly gorgeous melodic content... the last movement sounds like Bartok, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Scriabin all rolled into one pair of hands... what a finale!...

Gale Bullock
Music Critic, Columbia, Missouri

... a large-scale work full of color, much variety of style, and imagination [that] has continuous appeal for the listener... a monumental, major accomplishment... 

William Hudson, Music Director
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra

... not only is the writing entirely idiomatic for the instrument, but within the impressive scope of the piece one finds an astonishing number of ideas, and these are enormously varied and strongly communicative... after five performances, I have never left the stage without being called back two or more times...

Jeffrey Chappell, pianist
soloist on recording with Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra

... a wild, energetic, kaleidoscopic piece... at turns lyrical, rhythmic, humorous, and dramatic... creates an experience of far greater intensity than is usually experienced by audiences when new music is performed... passes through the full range of human emotions... a cathartic and moving experience for performers and audiences alike...

Michael Arnowitt, pianist
soloist with University of Vermont Symphony Orchestra

Program Notes

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is presented in four movements, preceded by an introductory Invocation for solo piano that briefly presents the musical building blocks upon which the four movements are based. The gentle Invocation is followed by the explosive first movement, Toccata (hell-bent), which asks the pianist to explore and exploit the full range of the piano keyboard with unrelenting vigor. The second movement, Invention (quirky) - Dance (elegant), contrasts the somewhat eccentric, angular rhetoric of the imitative Invention with a graceful and more conventionally melodic Dance. The romantic, expansive third movement, Rhapsody (tender), unabashedly invokes beauty and pathos in the spirit of the late 19th-century concerto. Employing a variety of orchestral textures and tempi, the fourth and final movement, Ebullition (zesty), finds the piano weaving its way through now familiar musical materials as it pushes inexorably towards the concerto¹s conclusion.

      The musical language of the concerto orbits several simple melodic and harmonic cells that are developed both tonally (Invocation, Dance, Rhapsody), and not-so-tonally (Toccata, Invention, Ebullition). The juxtaposition of these two harmonic "spins" sets up a sonic platform conducive to exhibiting the vast range and versatility of the piano -- not to mention the impressive virtuosity of the pianist.

Perusal scores available: conductor's score, 2-piano score.       

For information on rental of score and parts (negotiable), please contact me via email.

 contact James Grant 

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