Concerto for solo piano

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This is a solo piano reduction from the full orchestral version of the concerto.

This is a composition which I have worked on and off at during the last six years. For the sake of convenience perhaps it is best regarded as being in three movements. I had serious writer's block regarding the last movement; I now think it is the best of the three.

It has a cyclical nature in the sense that material from the first "movement" is brought back towards the end, and in that certain falling motifs interconnect the different "movements".

0.00 Allegro deciso - Lento doloroso - Trionfante
9.09 Lento placido
14.58 Andante minacciosamente (Dies Irae) - Adagio doloroso (Preghiera dei monaci) - subito molto animato - Tumultuoso - luminoso - Languido - Allegro maestoso (Il ritorno)

The first movement is somewhat Rachmaninov / Warsaw Concerto -esque, with the thematic material derived from the opening falling gesture and the second, more decisive, but also descending motif (it is later transformed into a very different minor key version).

The second movement is perhaps Chopinesque in nature, though my writing was influenced by Liapunov's Nuit d'ete etude. It depicts an intermezzo, a moment of reverie before the storm.

The third movement is the most consciously programmatic of the three. It depicts a violent struggle between good and evil, life and death, or what make of it what you will. It is the only movement in which I have, very deliberately, used specific musical references: the Dies Irae motif, the interval of the tritone to symoblise the Devil, and the Tristan chord to symbolise redemption at the moment of resolutary transformation directed towards the triumphal return of motific material from the first movement. There are praying monks, storms, and visions of the kind of things in Hieronymus Bosch before we reach that moment. The listener of course is free to see it differently, but that was what was in my mind during the compositional process.

Recorded during spare time following a full day rehearsal of various transcriptions; whilst it is pretty technically secure most of the way through please forgive my strange inability to get the melodic line quite right around the 2 min mark. 6 hours playing beforehand wasn't the ideal preparation However it's not likely that I'll get to play it with a full orchestra in the near future (which would make the piano part a little bit easier!) so I was glad to take the opportunity to record it even under those circumstances. Piano - Kawai Grand. (P.S. One-take recording)

This is by far and away the most substantial composition I have ever attempted, so I will certainly appreciate your comments!

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35/concerto-for-solo-piano

[mjames]

I'm about 18mins through and wow man I have to say that this is quite the achievement. It's not everyday we get an original piano concerto posted on PS...let alone a good one. Congrats dude, I'm just simply awestruck.

[nickc]

Agreed. I'm just getting to the 15 min mark and I feel like I'm listening to your autobiography. What a wonderful language.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Very encouraging, my thanks to both of you!

[emill]

Hello Andrew,

Allow me first to CONGRATULATE you. Personally, the effort and patience which you obviously poured into the piece has a much more than average chance of bearing fruits of success. May not be monetarily, but being accepted by the  "average", NON-PIANIST audience like me.  Overall, it is quite a "likable" piece with an attractive melodic flow.  I particularly liked the middle portion which was light and pleasant and occasionally bordering on joyous ... and the drastic change into the effective use of the "Dies Irae" in the final movement.  But really, the lento was beautiful!

I first listened to the whole piece without reading your posted info and I was immediately struck by the "familiarity" of the music, its flow and phrasing.  The use of the "Dies Irae" reminded me of Myaskovsky's piano Sonata No.2 .....   CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES!

[ted]

I am pleased your programme is optional, as I doubt I would ever have thought about those associations while listening. My musical psyche is too modern and racy of the soil, and I haven't a clue what those musical references are, so I just let my listening mind run free.

Anyway, I enjoyed it very much and listened a few times. Even had I not known in advance, I am very sure I would have thought it was you in the first two movements because of your signature diminished chord phrases. I haven't heard those in any other music, at least not exactly as you use them in terms of concomitant keyboard figuration. I agree with emill that the second movement contains more than a few beautiful moments, although I didn't particularly think of Chopin aside from one run. The final movement is perhaps the most interesting because it reveals a new side of you; it seems to me you break new and revealing ground with it.

Soundcloud and I don't get on. I always listen to anything of substance through my hi-fi. In theory, I can use bluetooth to play it directly from the  iPad, but for some reason, Soundcloud stops, starts and farts with that setup. So I have to record it into my H2 via line in, doctor the file in Audacity and then write it onto a USB stick. Tell me why and we'll both know.

In any case, it was all worth it, and I have to admire anybody with the tenacity to actually write this sort of stuff out on paper.  

[xdjuicebox]

As someone aspiring to write a piano concerto, incredible! Incredible playing, incredible harmonies, incredible ideas! Thanks for sharing!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Hi emill, thanks for your praise!

Indeed, I really didn't write this with any anticipation of commercial success. It is something which has been in my mind to do for such a long time; even before I started compositional work it was a long-held ambition.

It's interesting that you are so taken with the Lento. I'm slightly uncomfortable with it. There is an unpleasant tendency of "minor master" romantic concerti to have what might be termed an "apology for a slow movement": something disposable between the more important  matter of whizzing up and down the keyboard in a series of virtuoso gestures. I was trying to avoid that, but at the same time, for reasons of balance, I wanted it to be relatively short and compact, and to provide a dramatic contrast to what follows it. I think I've got the balance right but I'm never 100% convinced.

I remember the Myaskovsky well - I was unaware of the Dies Irae in it prior to hearing Enzo! If anything influenced me in the third movement, it will have been Liszt's Totentanz which is a quite incredible work.

As someone aspiring to write a piano concerto, incredible! Incredible playing, incredible harmonies, incredible ideas! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, so pleased you enjoyed it. I held very little back, either in the writing or the playing.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Hi ted, I also think the last movement is the most interesting. I've had some interest in more abrasive, even violent, musical expression for some time, but this may be the first time I've found a successful way of representing it. Music, of course, is not alway about good and positive things.

I don't know what your problem with Soundcloud can be. I assume it's not replicated on other sites which use flash etc type players to stream the music. Very peculiar.

I wish my replication of what exists on the printed page was slightly more accurate! But I decided that I would rather be "in the spirit of" than pedantically precise. That option will be less available should i ever get to play this with an orchestra. In many ways I am just glad to have got it out of my system in a reasonably coherent form.

Thanks for listening, and I appreciate your comments.

[rachfan]

Hi ronde,

This recording is fantastic!  While there are a few nods to late romantic composers, there is  even more originality. The third movement is extraordinary.  I hope many more members and visitors here will listen to your concerto.  Outstanding!

David

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks, David. The third movement was for so long the stumbling-block, but once I found the idea of replying to the opening Dies Irae by combining it against one of the diminished harmonies from the start of the first movement, I got somewhere. I had to change my mindset to write the music intellectually rather than intuitively via improvisation as the latter wasn't getting me any further than taking paraphrase-type cliches to surround the theme.

[visitor]

Forive my tardiness, this outstanding and deserves all the praise i and we can give! I would love to hear this as you play it over years to see how you change it as your sentiments and life experiences change how you express this beautiful music.  Hopefully you have a chance to upload a nice hd video w high quality audio someday too. Again, superb, this has a sort of hubert bath, clive richardson, richard addinsell, york bowen -ish  grand feel, but doesnt sound contrived like you attempted to sound like them, it just has a lot of the great hallmarks that makes their music/concertos-rhapsodies so appealing.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks visitor. Addinsell inhabits the first movement a little bit It's a shame I didn't have more time to spend on recording it, and really do it properly instead of just a one-take effort. Hopefully in the near future!

[georgey]

Ronde,

I never commented before on your concerto here in this thread.  As you know, I have enjoyed hearing the single piano reduction of the concerto on your 3rd cd that I own.  Is this the same version of the concerto that appears on your CD?  Thanks.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This is an earlier performance and not the one on the CD. Iirc I had barely practised the piece before this recording, basically because this dates from a final rehearsal session where I was running through all the material for the second opera transcriptions CD (consequently I'd been practicing all the various arrangements instead)! The version on the CD is a lot more accurate, and comes from a live concert recording which I did a little bit of editing to.

[georgey]

This is an earlier performance and not the one on the CD. Iirc I had barely practised the piece before this recording, basically because this dates from a final rehearsal session where I was running through all the material for the second opera transcriptions CD (consequently I'd been practicing all the various arrangements instead)! The version on the CD is a lot more accurate, and comes from a live concert recording which I did a little bit of editing to.

Thanks.  I only listened to a few spots on this and I thought it was different.  It still sounded very good in the spots that I heard!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

The CD version is in this thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=65411.msg690939#msg690939

The sheet music in the vid quoted in that post:
(ie

)

isn't totally accurate but should suffice for viewing purposes. Subsequently I have proofread it and have a pdf somewhere.

[georgey]

The CD version is in this thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=65411.msg690939#msg690939

The sheet music in the vid quoted in that post:

isn't totally accurate but should suffice for viewing purposes. Subsequently I have proofread it and have a pdf somewhere.

You know, I thought you had a newer version posted and I looked for this with Pianostreet search but could not find it.  Thanks!