Wow! I will finally perform Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto. This is a piece of music I became familiar with in the mid 90’s while I was in high school in Vancouver, B.C. I found an old recording of it on a cassette tape and played it almost everyday in my car on the way to school. My friends at the time, who usually listened to rap and heavy metal, looked at me with intrigue when they heard this and wondered what this music was. It doesn’t share the same level of fame as Barber’s Adagio for Strings, but is every bit ingenious as a piece of music. I have always wanted to play this Concerto, and when I got the call last year that the Flint Symphony Orchestra invited me to celebrate Barber’s 100th birthday with his Piano Concerto, I said YES!!!

It is such and exciting Concerto. What makes it so electrifying is the syncopated rhythm and its powerfully complicated harmonies. At first it may seem a little abstract, but within no time it all starts making sense. Emotions and color explode as the first mvt. starts off with a solo-piano cadenza, which is rather unusual. Most cadenzas come later in a movement to showcase the soloist, but his this case, Barber wrote two—one to start, and an even more epic one in the middle. The music is melancholic, at times playful, and very powerful. The second movement, features some of the most beautiful melody writing, and rich but delicate layers of sound and harmonies throughout. The feel overall is melancholic but still gives off an incredible beauty. In the final movement, Barber takes rhythm to a whole new level! It is so much fun to feel these syncopations and accents, but they must come from the gut! One cannot think these rhythms. This is the most playful movement and displays amazing interplay with piano and orchestra. While I was practicing the middle section of the final movement, a colleague of mine said to me, “that sounds like 1970’s computer/robot music!”

Barber cleverly features all the instruments in the orchestra, featuring melodic and playful solos, which basically makes this a large-scale piece of chamber music. I’m sure it is most exciting for the conductor as well!

I grew up in a home full of pianos, with both parents teaching piano all day long! You can imagine how much repertoire passed through the house on a weekly basis. I can say for sure, I never heard the Barber Concerto. I probably heard Tchaikovsky’s first Concerto at least once week among other favorites. Practicing was always a funny subject in the house! Once my father told me a had to be up at 8am on a Saturday morning and practice, but I knew he would be out of the house at 6am to teach at his studio. I then decided to start practicing closer to 12 noon. When I got to the piano, I saw a sticky note on my music that said, “Ian, phone me at my studio before you start practicing...Dad.” He always knew how to check on me.

I encourage everyone to embrace this Composer’s music the same way one would interpret mid-twentieth century art. It is powerful and sometimes a little abstract, but look and listen deeper to the amazingly strong emotions that ooze from this piece of musical art. It is beautiful. It is awesome. See you in the hall…