MYO Friday 25th October

Speirs Centre, 7.30pm

Conductor: Isaac Henderson

Concert features Ciaran Carroll playing the final movement from Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor.

Also included is music from the Carmen Suites by Bizet.

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907): final movement from the Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Allegro moderato molto e marcato – Quasi presto – Andante maestoso

The Piano Concerto in A minor, composed in 1868 and premiered the following year, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is not merely one of his most popular works but also among the most popular of all piano concerti. The 24-year-old composer wrote it in 1868 while on holiday at Søllerød, Denmark. At a private meeting with Grieg the great composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt sightread the piece and congratulated him on it ecstatically. Liszt particularly admired the very last bars of the final movement, where the first note of the first triplet in the orchestral part — a G sharp — unexpectedly changes to G natural. Despite this celebrity endorsement Grieg went on to make numerous revisions and the final version was completed only a few weeks before his death. It is this version that has achieved worldwide popularity. The final movement has some of the character of Norwegian folk dance though the influence of Schumann and Mendelssohn is also unmistakable.

Conductor: Isaac Henderson

Piano soloist: Ciaran Carroll

Ciaran writes, "I've been learning from Nick Hunter for my entire twelve years playing piano. I'm hopefully going to study piano at university. I've played trumpet for five years and clarinet for seven. I played clarinet in the Youth Orchestra two years ago. The Grieg A minor piano concerto third movement has been a real challenge to learn but it's well worth the effort, as I'm sure both myself and the orchestra know. It's an epic piece and the perfect mix of flair, expression and majesty."