PIANO CONCERTO op.412 (April 1991) Listen to this Work

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.
Instrumental / piano score for sale
Full score for hire
Study score for hire
Orchestral parts for hire
Two-piano score available for rehearsal CD COLOMBIA/SONY CD HBS HOWARD BLAKE (PIANO) THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS

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	Howard Blake solo piano, Tobias von der Locht, Sinfonia of Dusseldorf, Cologne. Germany 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

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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

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..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

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

Edward Greenfield, Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & Cassettes,