concerto no. 4 in f major for harpsichord & strings (full)

(note - this same track also appears on the pureambient album SSDL1747 "classical - an eternal album" as track 16)


track: 15

recorded: november 2014 - january 2015

duration: 27:22


for my fourth concerto, I move now to the harpsichord, with the piano as support, and this combination, along strings of course, suits my playing style and my compositional style really well,

I've also integrated the celeste as a third keyboard sound, which I think really gives me a broad palette of very diverse percussive-keyboard sounds, and I do enjoy the way the piano will pick up from the cello, and bring a melody to life, and then the celeste arrives to harmonise...

I am primarily, a pianist, for many years, the piano was the only instrument I had available, until I then got into hammond organs, and eventually, hardware synthesizers - but of course, those latter two have no place in modern classical music (In my humble opinion).

So once my viola and cello parts playing a lovely melody, and I then hear it shift to solo piano, and eventually, the beautiful tone of the harpischord returns, and the harpsichord really does dominate, I tried to use it a bit more sparingly than one might, given that it is meant to be the primary keyboard - and it is, technically, but, I have perhaps, taken a bit of a liberty by reiterating so many melodies on piano and celeste - but, I don't feel guilty about that at all!

movement no. 2 introduces timpani for the first time, which then mutates into a long celeste section which, upon listening to it again now, is mildly reminiscent of the long, climbing orchestral section in MacDonald and Giles "Birdman" suite of songs, from their debut album (made just after they left King Crimson) entitled "MacDonald and Giles".

I am sure I was consciously aware of that connection, and we also herald the arrival of the first crash cymbal, which I don't believe appears in movement one at all. movement number to is a bit of a more...wistful, yet brave theme, and I love the string / celeste breaks - they are just lovely.

and then - old reliable, the piano, comes back for a moment, which then leads to a somewhat strange strings interlude, with various odd techniques being demonstrated over a pizzicato background. I like the muted, plucked, percussive nature of movement two, that sets it apart from the other movements, and texturally, it is a nice contrast to the more sedate, pastoral first movement.

a long series of harpsichord chords leads us on our way, with minimal drum kit backing, and then that beautiful harpsichord melody appears, with some blunt, muted celeste notes behind, the harpsichord races off to a beautiful climax, and then piano and strings follow to resolve - and then it's away again - this time, utterly solo - there are quite a few solo harpsichord sections in this piece, which was a blast to record - just to see what I was capable of, really, and I think it really paid off.

a long pizzicato and timpani part rolls us up to the very exciting beginning of movement three, with it's fast, interwoven keyboard lines, the pace much more frenetic than at any other point in the piece, then, onto a lovely call and response between keyboards, when suddenly, a refrain of a really nice piano theme courtesy of the second movement - there is a fair amount of recurrence of themes, which is something that is really important to me, I want all of my longer pieces to have themes that recur, and that are presented with different instrumentations, at different tempos, and in different juxtapositions to how they originally appear - and I work hard to do that in most of the classical work I've done, going all the way back to my very first concerto, which was created piece by piece, using only a guitar synthesizer - I still had recurring themes, even back then...

movement three is strangely, dominated by a really nice piece of piano, which slowly fades away, and is replaced by strings, which then move into yet another recurring theme, this time played on strings rather than on the piano. I love themes that recur, that become familiar without (hopefully) being overplayed - so that when the piece finishes, and you walk away, certain lovely melodies are hopefully, "stuck in your brain".

Beautiful, single whole notes from the celeste, begin to appear on top of the pizzicato and normal strings theme, adding a new and peculiar element to the movement three "version" of a much earlier theme.

a long, long held chord leads to a glorious piano reprise of the same theme again, but this time, in the most joyous way possible, no longer sombre, not led by viola and cello, but by cheerful piano soloing, which was again, an absolute blast to create.

and then - the harpsichord returns, interspersed with strings, to remind us that it's themes, and it's solos, are of paramount importance, despite the recurring piano or pizzicato string themes - the harpsichord is king in this composition.

then - a slow, beautiful section begins, with harpsichord notes played very, very slowly over long, long tied whole notes on the cello and viola - a really nice effect, and then - solemn piano, with a pounding bass line - ominous, with timpani backing, appears out of nowhere, haunting, almost frightening, the only truly intense part of the movement or indeed, the entire piece - timpani melodies play atop a single piano note repeating endlessly - then, everyone joins in, harpsichord, etc. until it all resolves in a crashing chord - and the piece is suddenly over.

it's an unusual technique, to make the last minute of a long composition be very kind of...intimidating and scary and ominous, but I think the contrast of that, after many, many minutes of very pleasant music - reminds us, that this is a serious work, and that perhaps, all is not well in the garden of eden. It surprises me a bit, too, after all that quite pleasant harpsichord, piano, celeste and string music, to have this almost bombastic timpani and piano duet take the piece to an almost car-crash ending - but I like it - I think it's an unusual, and therefore, unexpected, way to end a piece of music, and I am very happy with whatever decision process I used to decide that!

you never know what will happen when you are composing, and working on a piece like this over time, gives you the opportunity to use recurring themes, and at the same time, introduce brand new ideas and even, unusual ending strategies - composition is a wonderful process, and I am never ever quite sure where it will take me next...