Piano Concerto No. 1 (Villa-Lobos)

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Piano Concerto No. 1
Concerto by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos (c. 1922).jpg
Heitor Villa-Lobos
CatalogueW453
GenreConcerto
FormConcerto
Composed1945 (1945): Rio de Janeiro
Dedication Ellen Ballon
Published1984 (1984): Paris (reduction for two pianos)
Publisher Max Eschig
RecordedJune 1949 (1949-June) Ellen Ballon, piano; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Ernest Ansermet, cond. (issued 1949 on LP, London LLP 77, matrix ARL.66 and ARL.67).
Duration38 minutes
Movements4
Scoring
  • piano
  • orchestra
Premiere
Date11 October 1946 (1946-10-11):
Location Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro
ConductorHeitor Villa-Lobos
PerformersEllen Ballon, piano; Orquestra Sinfônica do Theatro Municipal

Piano Concerto No. 1, W453, is a composition for piano and orchestra by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1945. A performance lasts about 38 minutes.

Contents

History

Villa-Lobos composed his First Piano Concerto in Rio de Janeiro in 1945. It was commissioned by the Canadian pianist Ellen Ballon, who gave the first performance at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro on 11 October 1946, with the composer conducting the Orquestra Sinfônica do Theatro Municipal. [1] Ballon also gave the American premiere of the concerto in Dallas, conducted by Antal Dorati in 1946, the Canadian premiere with Désiré Defauw on 28 October 1947 at the Plateau Auditorium in Montreal, and the London premiere with Thomas Beecham in 1956. She also recorded the work with Ernest Ansermet in 1949, with whom she also made return Canadian performances on 30 and 31 January 1951 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. [2]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (tam-tam, triangle, bass drum), harp, and strings.

Analysis

Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, venue of the concerto's premiere Fachadatm-47.jpg
Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, venue of the concerto's première

The concerto has four movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Allegro (poco scherzando)
  3. Andante – Andantino (quasi andante) – Cadenza
  4. Allegro non troppo

Although Villa-Lobos adheres to the four-movement structure often found in piano concertos, he makes little effort to follow the traditional structures, based on melodic ideas, within the movements. Instead, he uses rhythmic elements to define sections of movements. [3]

Discography

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References

  1. Villa-Lobos, sua obra 2009, 56.
  2. Peppercorn 1984, 31.
  3. Appleby 2002, 164.

Sources

Further reading