Concertino

Piano and string orchestra
Commissioned by the association”Les amis de Déodat de Séverac”
(1997)
Duration : 21’
First performance on january 24th 1998 at the Theater of Capitole in Toulouse
Conservatory’s pianist students and National Chamber Orchestra of Toulouse directed by Alain Moglia
Editions Billaudot

For his summer academy, the patron who commissioned the eight movements of this concerto requested that each should represent a different degree of difficulty.

Eight pianists of varying levels were to perform the work as part of a teaching programme which justifies its « nickname » Concertino.

Nevertheless, it remains a concert piece which can be played by one performer where the scale of difficulty doesn’t have to be linear.

Indeed, whereas the gentle and nostalgic « Prelude » is the easiest piece, the second movement « Scherzo » is one of the most virtuoso where its actual rhythmic complexity is masked beneath a lively allegro.

« First interlude » rising from the bass, sees the expressive soaring of the violins in opposition with the unshaking impassivity of the soloist and the remaining strings.

« Presto », as the name suggests, unleashes a quick flurry of notes before making way for the alternating clocks in the « Second interlude ».

Without a doubt, the frenetic « Ostinato » is the riskiest movement which takes us through the main difficulties of the piano with a sequence of variations.

Calm returns with the gentle melancholy of « Postlude » where the soloist remains in the background so that the strings can fully express their lyricism.

A release of expressive tension in the brief « Coda » an actual pirouette which leaves behind a feeling of lightheartedness and freedom.

Patrick Burgan