Concertstück

Cowen was a good enough pianist to play the Mendelssohn’s D minor Piano Concerto in public at the age of twelve. Following his studies in Leipzig and Berlin, he began a career as a pianist, touring the UK, Europe, and the USA. But he began to concentrate on conducting, eventually becoming one of the leading British conductors of his day, the regular conductor of the Philharmonic Society from 1888.

Cowen had already written a piano concerto (now lost) which he had performed at the age of 17 in 1869, when began his Concertstück for Piano and Orchestra in 1897. It was written for Ignaz Paderewski and was first performed by him at a Philharmonic Society concert in Queen’s Hall on 28 June 1900, conducted by the composer. The work was well received. Cowen recorded in his autobiography that he ‘went over to Paris for a few days to work up the music with

[Paderewski] and to make sundry revisions and elaborate certain of the passages to suit his immense technique … Not taking into consideration a very early concerto, the Concertstück was the first work [for piano and orchestra] I had written, and its performance at the Philharmonic, through his fine interpretation, proved very brilliant and effective‘.

The piece is in a continuous twenty-minute span, but it falls into several sections, delicately scored throughout.

Phillip Brookes

For performance material please contact Stainer & Bell, London