Hollywood Concerto

Fascinated since childhood by the world of cinema, Peter Hope is one of the most prominent representatives of British applied music of the second half of the 20th century. A composer, arranger and conductor who has been involved with BBC radio and London recording studios for years, he is best known for his work on the borderline of classical and entertainment music. Created in the 1960s, the Hollywood Concerto for two pianos and orchestra is a brilliant pastis of Hollywood's golden age film music based on the melodies that accompany numerous silent film productions. The piece is an excellent example of the so-called light music — an extremely popular light symphony trend in post-war Britain combining classical composing workshop with an accessible form. Virtuoso piano dialogues, spectacular orchestration and a wealth of Hollywood themes make up a graceful musical memory of the beginnings of world cinema.

Inspired by Balinese gamelan, Mozart and Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, which premiered in January of the same year, Francis Poulenc's 1932 Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D minor is a fine example of the early period of the French composer and pianist's work. Joyful and direct Allegro ma non troppo maintained in da capo form is opened by a percussive, repetitive figure in pianos. Larghetto's carelessly naive beginning, with its classicist simplicity referring to the famous Andante of Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor No. 20, combines the elegance of Poulenc's favourite composer with his own style, while the final rondo juxtaposes gamelan repetitiveness with extraordinary thematic brilliance.

Composed in 1800, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto is a kind of bridge between the composer's early style, strongly embedded in classicism, and his later, more romantic work. The first part — a classical sonata form with a double exposition — clearly refers in structure, character and motifs to Mozart's Piano Concerto in C minor K. 491. The middle Largo is a harbinger of romanticism — instead of the traditional parallel key (E major), the composer embeds this lyrical and reflective part in a distant E major, thus enhancing the contrast with the previous, tumultuous paragraph. Beethoven returns to C minor in a surprising Ronda: weaving the luminous reminiscences of the middle part between the fugue sections, he builds a finale full of life, brilliance and dramaturgy. The premiere of the third concert took place with Beethoven as soloist on April 5, 1803 at the composer's benefit, during which his Second Symphony in D major and the oratory Christ on the Mount of Olives were also staged. The whole concert was prepared on just one rehearsal — the sheer volume of material and the lack of time naturally resulted in a tense atmosphere. Prince Karl Lichnowsky, Beethoven's patron, sent baskets of bread, meat and wine to the disgruntled and exhausted artists; moreover, the composer still had not finished the score, as noted by Ignaz von Seyfried, a friend of Beethoven turning over the pages at the premiere, except for a few illegible “Egyptian hieroglyphs” The score was almost completely empty. Beethoven performed the solo part from memory, occasionally pointing only to von Seyfried to turn the page for the sake of appearances. The work was fully written and published only in 1804, when it also received a “second premiere” — already from a complete manuscript.

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