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

“Ostinato” :

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