Paul Mealor Piano Concerto world premiere with London Mozart Players

Closing the music of JAM on the Marsh: VIRTUAL, London Mozart Players, John Frederick Hudson (piano), Michael Bawtree (conductor) perform an outstanding orchestral concert:

Peter Aviss: The Seafarer
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Judith Bingham: The Hythe (commissioned by JAM 2012)
Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56
Paul Mealor: Piano Concerto – world premiere (commissioned by JAM and the North Wales International Music Festival 2020)

Paul’s Piano Concerto reflects his time on Romney Marsh in Kent, the stage of JAM on the Marsh. The sound of the seagulls can be heard in the strings as high glissandi & even Storm Dennis in the loud, rumbling piano cadenza which starts the second section of the piece. The light breaking over the land inspired the opening of the concerto.

The first section is an aural representation of the early light breaking on Romney Marsh, beginning with a singling bowl which then opens up into a heartbeat, developing into a melody shamelessly romantic in feel and spirit. The second section is a prolonged cadenza for the piano soloist. Moving from slow to extremely fast & dramatic this is music of impatience, of the storm, of nature.

The final section of the Concerto is a ‘round’ of fierce dramatic tension which has ideas coming back in different guises. Here the pianist is at their most virtuosic! And, the work comes to a lightening close in a whirlwind display of instrumental & ensemble virtuosity.