Piano Concerto

This is my first attempt at a significant orchestral piece, which I started in 2004. It is scored for a small chamber orchestra with tiny brass and percussion sections. This is partly because I am unfamiliar with the technical challenges of writing for full orchestra and wanted to keep it simple, and partly because I wanted to get away from the antagonistic relationship between soloist and orchestra that characterises romantic and twentieth century concertos and closer to the more informal concerto grosso style of Bach and Mozart, where the soloist is simply the first among equals and forms partnerships with the other instruments in the orchestra. This is also why the soloist role is not particularly technically challenging (except in the finale) - my hope is that this piece might be suitable for school orchestra and a talented amateur soloist. Shostakovitch's marvellous second piano concerto, one of my favourite pieces of music, was the role model. Other influences include Poulenc, Ravel, Gershwin, Prokofiev and of course Mozart.

During the writing of the slow movement my good friend Simon Burnett died of cancer; it is dedicated to his memory.