Kyle Gann: Piano Concerto No. 2
(2023)

for piano solo, orchestra (2-2-2-2; 2-2-2; 2 perc [vib, wdblk, glock], harp, strings); three movements
Commissioned by Emanuele Arciuli

1. With quiet exuberance
2, With unrushed determination
3. Thoughtfully

Having grown up on so many piano concerti by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Grieg, I always wanted to write one. I had written a piano concerto, commissioned by the Orkest de Volharding, for piano, twelve winds, and bass, but I wanted to write one for orchestra, and couldn't stir up any interest in a performance. Finally in 2023, pianist Emanuele Arciuli, who has championed my music, told me to write it and he'd play it. Energized, I wrote the first draft in 66 days.

After I'd planned out the three movements (I had never written a three-movement piece before), I realized that I was subconsciously writing a musical autobiography. I think of the movements, unofficially, as representing Exuberance, Industry, and Acquiescence, respectively - the three phases of my life. For the first movement I reworked the second movement of my 2018 piece Lagniappe, which, due to its bizarre (commissioned) instrumentation (Ondes Martenot, Disklavier, harp), is likely to never receive a second performance; and I think the recasting for piano and orchestra is an improvement. Additively moving through jazz ii-V-I chords, it builds up a free-flowing melody, phrases of which will return nostalgically in the second and third movements. In the second movement the piano threads its way among repeating figures in the orchestra - independent at first, but gradually falling more and more in sync until, at the climax, the orchestra parts are generated by the piano. The piano abruptly returns to being independent, and at the end switches to a new idea in anticipation of the third movement. The final movement is quieter, with the piano tinkling like stars through clouds in the orchestra; near the end a long stretch of the first movement's theme returns sentimentally, before a long solo piano cadenza (non-improvised).

The first movement begins and ends on a ii7sus chord in D-flat; the third ends in that key. The second starts and ends in F with a climax in A-flat. So I rather think of it as a concerto in D-flat Major. I'm very grateful to Emanuele for sparking my imagination.

- Kyle Gann

Duration: 29 minutes