9990CC7C-2B2D-4DF4-84EC-FC7EF5FBFF14

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ID9990CC7C-2B2D-4DF4-84EC-FC7EF5FBFF14
TitlecodeR00791
Title Name(POP) Piano Concerto No. 1
Marketing CopyLalo Schifrin's Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra is the result of the composer's personal perspective of the linkage between jazz improvisation his classical music background. The work explores these contrasting heritages and ultimately unites them in a sort of fusion over its three-movement structure. Commissioned by the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra.
InstrumentationPiano Solo    3(1d Piccolo).2+English Horn.2+Bass Clarinet.2+ContraBassoon: 4.3.3.0: Timpani.Percussion(4): Strings
CommissionCommissioned by the Philharmonic Orchestra, Mexico City
Dedication
Program NotesThe history of jazz, in its approximately eighty years, reproduces the evolution of two millennia of Western music, from the monody (early blues) to polyphony (New Orleans - Dixieland), to the romantic period (big band era) to the dissolution of tonality (be-bop, free jazz, etc.)

On the other hand, some of the great composers of this, century have been attracted by the "exoticism" of rag-time, fox-trot and the blues as an amusing facade that awakens their curiosity.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is the result of my own perspective of this linkage of distant mirrors and tenuous bridges between the jazz improvisation as I have personally experienced it and my classical music background.

The introduction to the first movement is like a curtain that opens through a gathering storm by the orchestra which finally quiets down on the piano's lower register. A quasi cadenza leads into the first theme ("impulse") vigorous, syncopated and relentless. The second theme is by contrast more passive, although in its quiet way, is searching as the outer point of a growing spiral searches. The interplay between these two themes and some of the dramatic elements from the introduction defines the form and style of this first movement. All the streams converge to a fugato by the strings, which precedes a cadenza and the final coda. The piano's part, although carefully composed, should convey the spontaneity of extemporaneous improvisation.

The second movement is a Moebius strip; a baroque-like basso ostinato interwoven with ornaments and arabesques so prevalent in contemporary jazz. A second section is a Choral and variations; a short cadenza leads into the recapitulation, and quietly ends with echoes from the basso continuo.

The final movement is a toccata in the form of a rondo. The musical language is borrowed from Afro-American rhythms, and the solo piano is used as a percussion instrument; the conflicts postulated at the concerto's beginning are finally solved by movement and action, as if a choreographer had decided to simplify the double-dream into a giant leap. --Lalo Schifrin
Title Brand2
Year Composed1985
Copyright Number
Copyright Year
Duration30
Ensemble Size(not set)
Date Created2008-10-31 00:00:00.000000
Date Updated2023-06-25 05:59:28
Inhouse NoteWork removed 9/26/06 per composer; withdrawn
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Premier Performance Memo
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Awards
Title Category7
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Title Instrument Category TextFull Orchestra
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Title Sub Category-1
Title Instrument Header41
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