Hans Abrahamsen's Concerto For Piano And Orchestra was composed in 1999 by commission for the BIT-20 Ensemble. A complex and multi-layered work opening with highly minimal material and very slowly building to an ecstatic frenzy across the four movements. As the piece progresses Abrahamsen has also included some significant nods towards composers Gyorgy Ligeti (a former teacher of the composer) and Gustav Mahler.The work was premiered at the Ultima Festival in Oslo in 2000 with Anne Marie Abildskov as soloist. I Allegro Volante e nervoso II Adagio innocente e semplice III Tempo de grandegioia IV Fluente ma tranquillo Programmenote: ???The piano concerto starts entirely as I usually start with this filigree in the piano and many simultaneous layers ??? Hans Abrahamsen has explained ???The beginning is music that could continue almost minimalistically ad infinitum. But it doesn???t. Instead it has a seizure after just thirty seconds. It literally comes to a halt!???There is no programmatic structure behind the four-movement course of the concerto but a romantically minded listener may be tempted to interpret the development from a quick stalling of the familiar through the introduction (by the lyrical second movement) of something much more ???innocent and simple??? as it says - something feminine one feels like adding - to the third movement???s flashing firework display of a scherzo which draws the curtain aside for a liberating rush of joy as life after the advent of love. However the undersigned assumes full responsibility for this interpretation.The piano soloist is the undisputed main character in the concerto and plays almost constantly in the first three movements. It is only in the fourth movement that she takes a break and listens. ???The piano stirs up an anthill??? is Hans Abrahamsen???s own description ???and it becomes almost operatic! It is as if the music is about to fall right out over the edge of the abyss at the drastic general

Left Alone for Piano (left hand) and Orchestra was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 2014-15. Commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and co-commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Premiered by the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Alexandre Tharaud (piano) concducted by Ilan Volkov on January 29 2016 Cologne. Programme Note: I was born with a right hand that is not fully functional and though it never prevented me from loving playing the piano as well as I could with this physical limitation it hasobviously given me an alternative focus on the whole piano literature and has given me a close relationship with the works written for the left hand by Ravel and others. This repertoire has been with me since my youth. My very first public performance of one of my own works was in autumn 1969. The piece was called October and I played the piano with my left hand and the horn my principal instrument (the only instrument that can be played with only the left hand). Part of the piece requires the performer to play natural harmonics of the horn directly into the open strings of the grand piano to create resonance. The pedal was kept down by an assistant lying on the floor. Through decades the idea of writing a larger work for piano left hand has been in my mind. This new work is not written for a pianist with only one hand but rather by a composer who can only play with the left hand. The title Left alone contains all kinds of references not only to the obvious fact that the left hand is playing alone. Left alone is divided into two large parts each consisting of three smaller movements – in effect six in total. The work was commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and co-commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic and written for Alexandre Tharaud. Hans

Homage to Anish Kapoor and his sculpture 'Marsyas'. Par PART ARVO. Arvo Pärt about Lamentate: 'Lamentate is music for piano solo and orchestra. With respect to its form, however, the composition cannot really be described as a typical piano concerto. I chose the piano to be the solo instrument because it fixes our attention on something that is 'one'. This 'one' could be a person, or perhaps a first-person narrative. Just as the sculpture leaves the viewer with a light and floating impression in spite of its overwhelming size, the piano, as a large instrument, allowed me to create a sphere of intimacy and warmth that no longer seems anonymous or abstract. Overall, it could be said that my work is marked by two diametrically opposed moods. By way of slight exaggeration, I would characterize these two poles as being 'brutal-overwhelming' and 'intimate-fragile'. The two characters are not simply placed opposite one another, much rather being left to develop themselves in a conflict that runs throughout the entire work.'/ Répertoire / Piano et Orchestre

Piano Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra (2009) by Poul Ruders.Commissioned by The Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Jerome Lowenthal. Solo Piano part: WH31129CProgramme Note In this day and age when faced with the challenge of writing a 'Piano Concerto' e.g. a piece for symphony orchestra and an all-dominating and virtuosic solo Piano part one has two options: either: DO or do NOT go for it wholesale exploiting and enjoying the conrnucopia of sonorous treasures offered by the combination of the orchestra and the 'Grand Piano'. I have opted to go for it. When writing forone of our great young international Piano stars it would be absurd and a waste to do anything less and only 'nibble at the goodies'.However the piece is not a big clunky 'machine'. Rather it is a transparently orchestrated neo-classic (for the lack of a better work) composition in three movements lastign approximately 25 minutes.The piece begins with a moderately paced opening in which the Piano gradually gathers momentum and strength beginning with the most gentle of motifs. In this movement the soloist and orchestra fo not always agree and the vigilant listener will observe the disparity between the two. Following a swift up-beat coda the movement stops almost in mid-breath on one of the gentle Piano chords taken from the very opening.The extreme simplicity of the second movement 'Semplice' (the opening Piano solo bears the marking: 'slightly hesitant - like a child practicing') is after having been joined by the Vibraphone Harp and solo Violin suddenly violated with unprecedented brutality by the rest of the orchestra which virtually 'lies in wait - panting to pounce'. But eventually calm and order is restored.The finale is a crazy rondo of sorts. The marking 'Avanti Risoluto' (Forward with Resolve) is a bit of an understatement. It is a full throttle no hold barred ride -

Par CHOPIN FREDERIC. Editeur(s) d'origine: Friedman, I. /Reinecke, C./ Répertoire / Piano et Orchestre