Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto, Op. 38 is lushly cinematic. It’s an exhilarating drama between two dueling titans—the brazen, summit-scaling solo piano and the 20 th century orchestra, with its huge sonic energy. The Concerto’s expansive Neo-Romantic traces straddle the precipice between tonality and serialism. The music by no means loses its tonal bearings, but it typically ventures far right into a tumultuous chromatic sea.
The legendary American music writer G. Schirmer commissioned Barber to put in writing the Piano Concerto to commemorate the centennial of the corporate’s founding. The work’s premiere on September 24, 1962 celebrated one other momentous event: the opening of Philharmonic Corridor (now David Geffen Corridor) at New York’s Lincoln Middle. Barber collaborated with the pianist, John Browning, who carried out the premiere with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Browning discovered elements of the preliminary model of the ultimate motion, accomplished fifteen days earlier than the primary efficiency, to be unplayable. After Vladimir Horowitz got here to the identical conclusion, Barber revised the technically demanding rating.
The tempestuous first motion (Allegro appassionato) begins with a solo piano cadenza by which three themes are introduced. The composer described the primary as “declamatory” and the others “rhythmic.” The orchestra interrupts with a brand new theme which is sweeping, stressed, and passionate. The music takes on symphonic dimensions because the preliminary motivic seeds are developed by way of adventurous contrapuntal variations. A poignant second theme emerges within the solo oboe. The musical dialog consists of distant, nostalgic statements within the solo horn.
The second motion (Canzone: Moderato) is a dreamy tune with out phrases. The pentatonic melody is heard first within the flute, amid wispy, ephemeral traces within the harp and strings. Barber drew upon an Elegy for flute and piano which he wrote in 1959. The motion’s serenity is disrupted solely by a chilling descending chromatic passage within the strings, which brings the motion to an unsettling conclusion.
The ultimate motion (Allegro molto) evokes photographs of an ominous, nocturnal chase. Propelled by a nightmarish ostinato, it surges ahead in a relentless and irregular 5/8 time. This five-part rondo consists of lighter moments by which a collection of instrumental voices together with the solo clarinet, a trio of flutes, and muted trombones come out to play.
Recordings
Featured Picture: “Lake George” (1922), Georgia O’Keeffe
