Premiere of ‘Concerto for Piano, Keyboards and Orchestra’ at New Music Dublin

‘Concerto for Piano, Keyboards and Orchestra’ was commissioned by the New Music Dublin Festival and RTE for the soloist Xenia Pestova Bennett and the RTE Concert Orchestra. The new 30 minute work was premiered at the National Concert Hall in Dublin alongside works by Olga Neuwirth and Irene Buckley and conducted by Gavin Maloney. The commission utilises a detuned keyboard and a toy piano alongside the traditional  grand piano and the concert was broadcast live on RTE Lyric FM. Unlike other recent works the concerto is completely abstract in nature as Ed says:

‘When writing ‘Concerto for Piano, Keyboards and Orchestra,’ I kept wondering what the piece might be called, what was it about? In the end I realised it was about the piano, the person playing it, the orchestra and my relationship to these things. As composers, we seem to be constantly under pressure to say what our music is ‘about’ as if the music itself doesn’t say enough. For me, music is about varying degrees of energy, vibration and perhaps transcendence from the everyday. So here, I want to be a bit old fashioned perhaps, and defend the abstract. I don’t want to put a story or image into your head, I don’t want to describe what happens and spoil the fun, I want you to find your own way or simply get lost in the music. I want to create a world and allow the listener to enter it with their own imagination. I will tell you that the piece is in three parts and uses other keyboard instruments in addition to the piano, but you’ll have to wait and hear how that pans out.’

You can listen back here.