''Concerto for Piano with Orchestra'' is a piano concerto by the Mexican composer

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by nativ ...

, written between 1938 and 1940.

History

Early in 1938 Chávez received a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which provided support for the composition of a Piano Concerto. He set to work in the spring of 1938, finishing the

short score Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...

by the end of the year. Resumption of work on the orchestration, however, was only possible in October 1940, and Chávez put the final touches on the score on 31 December of that year. The concerto was premiered by

Eugene List Eugene List (July 6, 1918March 1, 1985) was an American concert pianist and teacher. Early life Eugene List was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent his formative years in Los Angeles, where his father Louis List (originally Lisnitzer) ...

with the

New York Philharmonic Orchestra The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

under the direction of

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...

on 1 January 1942. The European premiere was given by Tom Bromley and the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

conducted by Sir Adrian Boult on 6 September of the same year. The Mexican premiere did not take place until 13 August 1943, with

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

and the Orquesta Sinfónica de México conducted by Chávez himself. Chávez revised the score in 1969.

Instrumentation

The concerto is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of: * Piccolo * Two flutes * Two oboes * Cor anglais * Two clarinets * Two bassoons * Contrabassoon * Four horns * Two trumpets * Bass trombone * Tuba * Timpani * Three percussionists ** Glockenspiel, side drum, suspended cymbal, woodblock ** Tenor drum, crash cymbals, maracas, claves ** Xylophone, tambourine, bass drum, large gong * Celesta * Harp * Strings

Analysis

The concerto has three movements, played without any breaks: # Largo non troppo – Allegro agitato – Largo non troppo # Molto lento – Poco meno lento – Andante tranquillo # Finale: Allegro non troppo The first movement represents two-thirds of the entire concerto, and is in a modified

sonata-allegro Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...

form with a thirty-bar introduction and a cadenza linking the end of the recapitulation to the coda. The movement is modal, predominantly in E Phrygian with excursions to F and G, eventually returning to E Phrygian but with a final cadence on the subdominant, A. The second, slow movement has two main parts, which are preceded by an introduction and concluded with a canonic coda. Harmonically the movement is dominated by quartal harmonies, anchored over pedals of A (bridging from the first movement), D (beginning with and continuing through most of the second section), and G from b. 1221 to the end of the movement. Motivic material is closely related to that of the first movement. The finale is characterized by rhythmic drive and intensity, using interrupting rests and short motives to create a sense of instability and tension. It falls into three sections with a coda. The first two parts present distinct thematic material, while the third part combines the substance of the first two parts while adding new material of its own. Harmonically, the movement is largely polymodal, moving in the concluding section to F major.

Discography

* Eugene List, piano; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Carlos Chávez, cond. 1 sound disc: 33⅓ rpm. monaural, 12 in.

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

WST 17030. New York: Westminster Records, 1963 (reissued on LP, Westminster Gold, stereo, WGS-8324. New York: ABC 1976). Reissued as part of ''Carlos Chávez: The Composer Conducts''. CD recording, 2 discs: digital, stereo., monaural, 4¾ in. ermany MCA Millennium Classics, 1996. * María Teresa Rodríguez, piano; New Philharmonia Orchestra,

Eduardo Mata Eduardo Mata (5 September 19425 January 1995) was a Mexican conductor and composer. Career Mata was born in Mexico City. He studied guitar privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he ...

, cond. Recorded 1978. LP recording 1 sound disc: 33⅓ rpm, stereo, 12 in. RCA Red Seal ARL1-3341. New York: RCA, 1979. * Jorge Federico Osorio, piano; Mexico National Symphony Orchestra,

Carlos Miguel Prieto Carlos Miguel Prieto (born 14 November 1965) is a Mexican conductor. He is music director of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria, of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, and The Orc ...

, cond., recorded Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Centro Cultural Universitario

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...

, México, D.F. 7–9 March 2011. CD recording. 1 disc: 4¾ in., stereo. Chicago: Cedille Records, 2013. * ''Carlos Chávez: Dos conciertos''. Jorge Federico Osorio, piano; Pablo Roberto Diemecke, violin; Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Enrique Arturo Diemecke, conductor. CD recording, 1 disc, 4¾ in., stereo. Spartacus SDX27299. Clásicos Mexicanos. Mexico: Spartacus, 2001.

References

Cited sources

* * *

External links

Eugene List (piano), Orchestre National de France, conducted by the composer in Paris, 1962
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piano Concerto (Chavez) Compositions by Carlos Chávez 1940 compositions Chavez