Piano Concerto No. 3 (Williamson)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Concerto No. 3 is a 32-minute concerto by Australian-born composer Malcolm Williamson
.
, Williamson's third piano concerto was written in 1962 while the composer was living in East Sheen
, London. The work is dedicated to the British pianist John Ogdon
, who gave the world premiere of the work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Joseph Post
. The work appeared in a concert given by the BBC Concert Orchestra
under conductor Christopher Austin
, with Piers Lane
as soloist, on 20 November 2001 to celebrate the composer's 70th birthday.
s, 2 oboe
s (2nd doubling cor anglais
), 2 clarinet
s (2nd doubling bass clarinet
), 2 bassoon
s, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, two tenor trombone
s, bass trombone, tuba
, timpani
, percussion (including snare drum
, triangle
& clash cymbals
), and strings
.
label with the composer as soloist, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
under Leonard Dommett
. This is the only recording of the concerto currently commercially available.
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
.
History of the Work
Commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting CommissionAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, Williamson's third piano concerto was written in 1962 while the composer was living in East Sheen
East Sheen
East Sheen, also known as 'Sheen', is an affluent suburb of London, England in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It forms part of the London post town in the SW postcode area....
, London. The work is dedicated to the British pianist John Ogdon
John Ogdon
John Andrew Howard Ogdon was an English pianist and composer.-Biography:Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music between 1953 and 1957, where his fellow students under Richard Hall...
, who gave the world premiere of the work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Joseph Post
Joseph Post
Joseph Mozart Post OBE was an Australian conductor and music administrator. He made an unrivalled contribution to the development of opera-conducting in Australia and was, in Roger Covell's words, the 'first Australian-born musician to excel in this genre'...
. The work appeared in a concert given by the BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC Concert Orchestra
The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
under conductor Christopher Austin
Christopher Austin
Christopher Austin is a British conductor, and an arranger and orchestrator of film and television scores.Austin originally intended to become a composer...
, with Piers Lane
Piers Lane
Piers Lane is an Australian classical pianist. His performance career has taken him to more than 40 countries. His concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works.- Early life :...
as soloist, on 20 November 2001 to celebrate the composer's 70th birthday.
Structure
The concerto is broken up into four separate movements, which are as follows:- I. Allegro (Toccata)
- II. Allegretto (Scherzo)
- III. Molto largo e cantando
- IV. Ben Allegro
Orchestration
Piano soloist; 2 fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (2nd doubling cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
), 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s (2nd doubling bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
), 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, two tenor trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, bass trombone, tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, percussion (including snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, triangle
Triangle (instrument)
The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
& clash cymbals
Clash cymbals
Clash cymbals or hand cymbals are cymbals played in identical pairs by holding one cymbal in each hand and striking the two together.-Terminology:The technical term clash cymbal is rarely used...
), and strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
.
Recordings
The original version (from the LP recorded in 1974) is now available in a newly remastered edition on the LyritaLyrita
Lyrita is a classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record...
label with the composer as soloist, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
under Leonard Dommett
Leonard Dommett
Leonard Bertram Dommett OBE was an Australian violinist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Leonard Dommett was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, where his father ran a general store...
. This is the only recording of the concerto currently commercially available.