The Piano Concerto in C is a concertante work by
Ralph Vaughan Williams written in 1926 (
movements 1 & 2) and 1930-31 (movement 3). During the intervening years, the composer completed Job: A Masque for Dancing and began work on his
Fourth Symphony. The concerto shares some thematic characteristics with these works, as well as some of their drama and turbulence.
Structure
Toccata: Allegro moderato - Largamente - Cadenza
The concerto begins with driving, energetic music from the soloist set against a threatening, rising theme in the orchestra. A faster, more scherzo-like idea, shared out equally between piano and orchestra, soon contrasts against the opening music. These two blocks of music alternate, forming the basis of the entire movement. It is as though the traditional dialogue between soloist and orchestra has been supplanted by a more generalised dialogue of musical types. At the movement's climax, a brief and thunderous piano solo is joined by the full orchestra. However, the orchestra suddenly cuts off to leave the piano musing alone in a short lyrical cadenza. This leads without a break into the slow movement.
Romanza: Lento
The Romanza is more delicate, providing the listener with hints of Vaughan Williams's previous studies with
Maurice Ravel. Vaughan Williams here
quoted the theme from the Epilogue of the third movement of
Arnold Bax's
Symphony No. 3.[1]
Fuga chromatica con Finale alla Tedesca
Again without a pause from the previous music, the closing movement begins with a fugue that is linked to a waltz finale by flights of virtuosity from the piano soloist. It closes with the ensemble repeating themes from the first two movements, and then abruptly closes.
Overview
The work was premiered on 1 February 1933 by
Harriet Cohen, with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra directed by
Sir Adrian Boult. The Finale was edited shortly thereafter and the work was published in 1936. The concerto was not well received at first, being considered unrewarding to the soloist. Though the piece provides ample opportunity for virtuosity in all movements, Vaughan Williams treated the piano as a
percussion instrument, as did
Béla Bartók and
Paul Hindemith during this period, with the
texture at times impenetrably thick.[2]
While the concerto was rated highly by some—Bartók, for one, was extremely impressed—Vaughan Williams took the advice of well-meaning friends and colleagues and reworked the piece into a
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, adding more texture to the piano parts with the assistance of
Joseph Cooper in 1946.[3]