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.
Contents
Structure
- Toccata: Allegro moderato - Largamente - Cadenza
- Romanza: Lento
- Fuga chromatica con Finale alla Tedesca
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.
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.