8 - Contrasts and common concerns in the concerto 1900–1945

Summary

On 28 December 1930 American composer Henry Cowell (1897–1965) gave the first complete performance of his Piano Concerto (1928) in Havana, Cuba. The work, like the majority of concertos in the first half of the twentieth century, adheres to many earlier traditions of the genre. It consists of the standard three movements (fast–slow–fast), the first of which opens with declamatory blasts from the orchestra and contains a substantial cadenza towards the end, and the last of which opens with the piano and concludes with a rousing virtuoso display accompanied by full orchestra. Although Cowell's pianism was highly idiosyncratic, he wrote for his personal strengths as did Bartó k, Britten, Copland, Dohnányi, Gershwin, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, to name only the most prominent composers who performed their own concertos in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite a traditional approach to the broad outlines of concerto form, Cowell was best known for his radically primitive pianism. The piano part consists almost exclusively of his signature tone clusters, requiring the soloist to pound the keys with fists, palms and forearms. Cuban policemen were called in lest the performance incite riot.