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Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1997)

piano and orchestra - 28'

Commissioned by the BBC and the Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, London for the 1997 BBC Promenade Concerts with funds provided by the BBC and the Arts Council of England. First performance and live BBC broadcast and recording: 12 August, 1997, Royal Albert Hall, London. The Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, John Lubbock, conductor, Rolf Hind, piano.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is for the traditional arrangement of soloist and orchestra, but is often anything but traditional. Although I have lived in Britain since 1974 my musical heroes have remained transatlantic: I admire Charles Ives's unapologetic juxtaposition of vernacular music and the avant-garde, Henry Cowell's irreverent use of fist, arm and elbow clusters on the keyboard, the propulsive energy of minimalism and John Cage's radical dictum that 'all sound is music'. My work is the confluence and synthesis of these interests with my American roots. As a child I lived in the Deep South where the scars of the American Civil War (1861-65) never stopped festering and the rich vernacular music of that era continued to stir passions. Every school child knew folksongs like John Henry and Negro spirituals such as Were you there when they crucified my Lord?. Some of the more rousing Civil War songs like Dixie required every good Southerner to stand at attention. Equally, The Battle Hymn of the Republic sent a chill down the spine of every Northerner.

Charles Ives' accounts of his childhood in a small New England town at the end of the last century are well known. They resonate for me with my own similar experiences two generations later in the South- parades, marching bands, church meetings, hymns, folk and gospel music- material eminently suitable for musical exploitation.

The work is dedicated to my parents: Maude and Richard Montague.

The concerto is in three movements:

© Stephen Montague