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PIANO CONCERTO op.412 (April 1991)

Concerto for piano and orchestra to celebrate the 30th birthday of Diana, Princess of Wales
Published by: Highbridge Music Ltd
Commissioned by: The Philharmonia Orchestra with assistance from The Arts Council of Great Britain
Instrumentation: 2(II=picc).2.2.2 - 4.2.trbn.btrbn.0-timp-perc(1):glsp/xyl/SD/susp.cym/cyms/tgl - strings
[Key to Abbreviations]
Duration: 27 mins
First Performance: June 19th 1991 in the presence of HRH Diana The Princess of Wales at The Royal Festival Hall. Howard Blake (solo piano) with The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis.
Sheet Music Available
Instrumental / piano score for sale
Full score for hire
Study score for hire
Orchestral parts for hire
Two-piano score available for rehearsal
Recordings Available

1. CD COLOMBIA/SONY CLASSICS CD ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN MAY 1991: HOWARD BLAKE (PIANO), THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS SONY HB3 23

2. SONY CLASSICS: RE-RELEASE OF THE ORIGINAL ALBUM (AS ABOVE) ON OCTOBER 28TH 2008 WITH NEW BOOKLET AND  ARTWORK (COPYRIGHT SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (UK LTD) 869737697

Movements

  • Lento - Allegro con brio
  • Andante Espressivo
  • Vivace

Performances

27th December 2008 Nadia Giliova, Murmansk Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alan Cook, Murmansk, Russia

Russian premiere
3rd November 2008 Nadia Giliova solo piano, Tobias van de Locht conductor, Sinfonia of Dusseldorf, big band of Clara Schumann Academy etc, Savoy Theatre, Dusseldorf, Germany, 8.00pm

As part of an all-Howard Blake festival birthday programme including Symphony in one movement, The Duellists, The Riddle of the Sands, Heartbeat, Suite from Flash Gordon, The Bear (new German translation) etc
28th October 2008 The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Voices and soloists conducted by Howard Blake at, The Cadogan Hall, London

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra have scheduled a major concert of Howard Blake's music as part of their Cadogan Hall Season to celebrate his 70th birthday on October 28th 2008. The programme will be conducted by the composer and include the concert version of 'The Snowman' for treble (Robert William Blake), narrator (Nigel Havers) and orchestra, The Piano Concerto (originally commissioned for the 30th birthday of Princess Diana) played by William Chen, the brilliant Shanghai-based pianist who so memorably recorded Howard Blake's monumental work 'Lifecycle', and the London premiere of 'The Passion of Mary', a major new work for soloists, choir and orchestra, featuring soprano Patricia Rozario, tenor Martyn Hill, Swedish bass Lars Avidson and the chamber choir of London Voices, directed by Terry Edwards. Booking from 1st May www.cadoganhall.com 020 7730 4500
8th August 1992 Howard Blake (piano), Anthony Inglis (conductor), RPO, Kenwood Lakeside
December 1991 Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, Howard Blake, The Dome Brighton

As part of an all Howard Blake concert
19th June 1991 Howard Blake (piano) with The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis., In the presence of HRH Diana The Princess of Wales at The Royal Festival Hall.

Reviews

A concerto which would be agreeable in any programme ... elegant, with enough salt in the orchestral mixture to give it flavour. It is good to find a composer looking to the Ravel Piano Concerto as a model ... The neo-classical chatterings in the piano-writing directly echo that model, together with the jazzy syncopations of the outer movements, which in turn pay a debt to Gershwin.

Edward Greenfield, The Guardian, 3/1991

..it has a deceptive simplicity not unlike that of Mozart. I mention Mozart advisedly since the classical qualities implicit in scores like 'The Snowman' and 'Diversions for cello and orchestra' are on full frontal display in the Piano Concerto. There is a child-like exuberance and spirit of delight...but a shrewd supervisory intelligence plots every move and never allows the plain, ordinary even commonplace musical language tit speaks ever to sound plain, ordinary or commonplace. Much of this is due to a strong feeling for line, and not just melody: counterpoint is far more of the essence of Blake's music than harmony. To cast a full-scale concert work in a simple diatonic styel with no sense of deja entendu is, in the 20th century, a considerable achievement.

Christopher Palmer, The Philharmonia Collins Classics Series, 1991

An attractive addition to the surprisingly limited list of modern British piano concertos.

Edward Greenfield, Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & Cassettes,


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