Program Notes
Piano Concerto
Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Premiere: September 24, 1962, at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City
Approximate performance time is 26 minutes
Behind the music
Samuel Barber composed his Piano Concerto in response to a 1959 commission by G. Schirmer, Inc., in celebration of the publishing firm’s centenary. From the time Barber received the commission, he envisioned the Concerto as a vehicle for the talents of the brilliant young American pianist, John Browning. The premiere was scheduled to coincide with the 1962 opening of Philharmonic Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Barber completed the Piano Concerto on September 9, 1962, just two weeks before the scheduled world premiere. The brief remaining time, coupled with the Concerto’s demands upon the soloist, placed intense pressure on John Browning. Nevertheless the first performance on September 24, 1962, with Browning and the Boston Symphony conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, was a triumph for all concerned. The audience stood and cheered, and the piece was immediately hailed as one of the most important American concert works of recent memory. The Barber Piano Concerto won both the Pulitzer Prize (1963) and Music Critics’ Circle Award (1964).
While You Listen
- The Concerto is in three movements. The first (Allegro appassionato) opens with a piano solo in the style of a recitative. The introduction and development of themes leads to a solo cadenza, and the fortissimo closing bars.
- The slow-tempo second movement is a Canzone (Moderato), the Italian word for “song.” The principal melody is first played by the flute.
- The finale (Allegro molto) generates tremendous energy and momentum that pervade to the Concerto’s thundering conclusion.
Performances
Agenda
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Fri, Oct 9, 20267:30 PMBelk Theater, Charlotte
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Sat, Oct 10, 20267:30 PMBelk Theater, Charlotte
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